An Unexpected Affiliation
by FiliaSapientia
Summary: The seven demigods had surely been through enough: wars, heartbreak, loss. So why did they never seem to be left alone? The Golden Trio could argue the same thing. What happens when these two groups collide in an unexpected way; forming friendships, enemies, and reuniting the lost. Hogwarts could never prepare for the bombshell that is this affiliation.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N - Ok, so this is the first story I've attempted. As known, it's a crossover between PJO (HOO) and HP. It takes place after The Trials of Apollo so some spoilers there, and for HP, it takes place after the last book. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are going back to redo their seventh year along with the rest of the surviving students. Hopefully, it's not horrible. I'll upload the next chapter soon.**

 **Disclaimer! - The characters and background plots do not belong to me and are purely repeats of the works of JKR and Rick Riordan. There may be some original characters of my own (or slight tweaking of backstories) and the plot is purely my own. Enjoy!**

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 **Chapter one – The Appearance**

Waking up half-concealed by grass was not how I expected his day to start off. Shivering, I sat up, wrapping my arms tightly around me hopeful for some semblance of warmth. My eyes swept across the open field I had appeared in, taking into account the numerous towering mountains towards the east and the vast gleaming tarn in the west. Unbeknownst to me, my companions had started to rise behind me. My mind registered their mutterings the same instant I voiced the query: " _where are we?"_

"I'm terribly sorry to interrupt your slumber, but really this is just inappropriate." The snarky comment brought me back to my senses, however, Annabeth stole the questions right out of my mouth:

"Who are you and where are we!" She took up a defensive stance which I knew meant trouble would arrive if the mysterious foreign lady didn't answer her questions soon.

"Well Miss, you are currently standing on the grounds of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, and as for who I am…" The unknown cranky lady stood up even taller (if that was possible), pursed her lips and looked down at the gathered group through thin spectacles, "I am Professor Minerva McGonagall, Headmistress of the school you are currently trespassing on. Now if you could kindly explain who you all are and your intended business here, we can smooth out any misunderstandings."

I glanced around, becoming finally aware of who stood beside me, not to mention the ginormous crowd that had gathered behind the scary lady. I came to the conclusion that a good impression is better than no impression, so I stepped forward, drawing scary lady's hawk-like stare like a magnet.

"I'm Percy Jackson and this is Annabeth Chase," I point out my companions as I list off their names, "that's Leo Valdez, Nico Di Angelo, Will Solace, Frank Zhang, Hazel Levesque, Piper McLean, and…a…" I stutter off as I remember why we were originally all together…and who was supposed to be here but wasn't. _Jason_. His unspoken name hovered in the air around us, immediately bringing us all crashing back to the reality that he was dead and gone forever, that our group was not assembled for just any random reason. McGonagall seemed to sense the sudden shift in the atmosphere and called out to the steadily growing crowd.

"Alright, that's enough students! Go back to the Great Hall at once! Anyone caught outside will get house points deducted and a week's worth of detentions! THAT MEANS NOW!" The students scrambled away from their Headmistress and the strange arrivals, curious but not stupid enough to disregard a direct dismissal.

"Now," McGonagall walked closer towards us, "why don't you follow me to my office and we can discuss this situation in private?" With that she marched off towards the brightly lit castle behind us, giving the rest of us no other option than to follow.

"This castle is amazing! The workmanship and detail that has gone into it are unbelievable. I wonder how long it took to construct!" Annabeth continued uttering nonsense the entire trip to the Headmistress's office. As much as I would have liked to understand what she was saying, all I could do was nod and hope my eyes didn't look as glazed as they felt. My ADHD was kicking in, I couldn't stop my mind from wandering as we passed through corridors covered in tapestries and WOW! Was that painting moving! The others seemed to be in various states of awe and disbelief, minus Leo, who for some reason looked slightly blank, he wasn't even building anything out of his toolbelt.

"Leo?" I muttered, slowing down to match the younger boy's shorter strides, "are you ok?" He glanced up at me before looking outside, gazing towards the far-reaching mountain ranges in the distance.

"I didn't even get to say a proper goodbye." Those few words made me feel like I'd been punched. _Of course, I'm such an idiot, the funeral._ Leo directed his gaze back to the carpeted stone floor and muttered spitefully, "we had finally gotten the opportunity to say goodbye, all of us together, but of course," he huffed a shallow laugh, " _of course_ something would cause us to get swept to somewhere unknown without giving a proper goodbye." He scoffed again and clenched his hands, looking angrily at his surroundings. However, I didn't fail to glimpse the horrible sorrow filling his eyes, a sorrow that resounded within me. I didn't get the opportunity to say something to comfort him, and myself, due to our arrival at a doorway flanked by stone gargoyles.

"Lemon drops." The gargoyles leapt aside at McGonagall's words and we filed in behind her onto a spiral staircase that began to circle upwards, depositing us in front of a grand set of oak doors. McGonagall didn't pause and gracefully swept into a confounding office. Tiny devices were scattered everywhere – on tables, bookshelves, desks, windowsills. Each made soft ticking noises, creating a comforting backing track to what was about to be a difficult conversation.

We gathered around the large mahogany desk McGonagall has situated herself at and took our seats. She simply laced her fingers together upon the desk and stared expectantly at them. Annabeth cleared her throat and launched into an explanation of what had happened the hours leading up to our unexplainable arrival at Hogwarts' doorstep.

"Well, Professor McGonagall, to put it simply, we have no idea why or how we came to be here. I'm not sure if you are aware or not, but the Greek gods exist and sometimes have children. We are all children of the gods, otherwise known as demigods. We were at Camp Jupiter (a safe haven for us) in America, in the midst of the funeral of a dear friend of ours, Jason. We were all standing around, mostly in silence. People kept coming up to us offering their condolences and patting us on our backs for our _good work_." Annabeth's voice gained a slightly disgusted tone as we all remembered how the adults had simply brushed off Jason's death as an 'unfortunate accident that could not have been avoided'. Stifling her emotions, she took a deep breath and continued. "We then left to get some fresh air and just be with each other…an..and then, I don't know, we somehow woke up on the other side of the world, on the property of a school that, in our minds, could not possibly exist."

Professor McGonagall continued to peer at us in her disconcerting manner, taking in our disheveled, distraught appearances. Piper and Hazel's eyes were still red from countless tears, Leo remained motionless and gazing blankly at the ground. Frank looked as if he didn't know what to do with himself, he kept readjusting in his chair with a sad, confused look on his face. Nico and Will were holding hands tightly while examining the professor with just as much concentration. I glanced at Annabeth and saw her watching me wistfully, before reaching out and squeezing my hand reassuringly, both of us keeping an equally tight grip on the other.

"Well, until we are notified of any specific reasons as to your appearance, I say it would only be fitting for you all to attend this school in the meantime. We will tell the other students that you are transfers from America. You will be sorted into houses accordingly at the start of term feast, which should be beginning shortly. Just for your information, last year we were involved in a devastating battle that brought forth many casualties as well as a thankful victory. Most of the students involved are still currently studying here and a few have returned to repeat the year they missed due to the ongoing war. Among these returnees is Harry Potter. Now, he has been the centre of attention for too much of his life, so I would appreciate it if you could all extend an olive branch of friendship towards him and the others who were involved." Professor McGonagall paused briefly to gauge their reactions, before continuing in the same strict tone: "I'm aware that you all probably have harrowing stories of your own, judging by your lack of reaction to the acknowledgement of a war, so feel free to tell students your stories in your own time, if at all. Everything you need will be provided for you tomorrow. Do you have any questions regarding this arrangement?"

"Actually yes, Professor," Annabeth glanced around at her companions before continuing, "this is a school of magic, but we don't have magic. The others have abilities such as controlling water, the weather, fire, etc. But how do you expect us to perform the same tasks as the rest of the students?" I looked towards McGonagall as she considered this conundrum.

"I believe it would be easiest to simply tell them your school focused more specifically on elemental magic than direct charms and hexes. This way the students will not question the use of other, more comfortable abilities. I shall notify the other teachers of this and request that they prepare an alternative set of tasks for you to accomplish." She glanced around once more and seemed satisfied with our lack of dispute. "Now, if we are finished here, it's best we head down to the Great Hall, the other students will be wondering where their dinner is." With that, she stood up and lead us out of the office towards what I believed would be the hardest challenge – school.

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 **A/N - Sooooo, that's the first chapter done. I'm not going to do these at the end of every chapter, but I hope you guys enjoyed it. Stuff will actually start happening in the next chapter so maybe it won't be as boring...? Who knows? Sorry about the Jason btw, I know most people loved him - but it's tragically canon, so, as they say: 'the show must go on'...**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two – The Sorting**

 ***Hermione POV***

 _Oh, I am going to be so late!_ I sprinted down the corridors in hopes of making it back to the Great Hall before the beginning of the feast.

"Oi! No running in the corridors!" Filch wheezed grumpily from a connecting corridor. _Oh shit_. I slowed down to a fast walk, calling an apology over my shoulder. Not only had I had to deal with the stragglers from the train, I then had to deal with the stragglers after the arrival of the strangers. I was so caught up in my Head Girl duties that I didn't even get to ask Professor McGonagall who they were. To make things worse, before I could finally relax in the hall after the long train ride, some idiot second years decided to run off and throw chalk pellets at Peeves. So of course, _I_ had to deal with that, as Harry had simply looked longingly at the hall, whimpering: "but fooood". Ugh boys! And now I was going to be late. Great way to start off my final year! I darted through the halls, ducking through some of the remaining secret passageways. At long last, I heard the rumble of sound and laughter up ahead and raced the final distance to the Great Hall. The doors had remained open, so I simply snuck in the side and made my way to the Gryffindor table, squeezing myself between Harry and Ron.

"Harry the least you could have done was help me! As Head Boy, it's your job to stop incidents like that!" Harry withered slightly under my disapproving glare, muttering a quick apology. I was about to continue reprimanding him when suddenly Professor McGonagall swept into the hall, followed by a small, silent group of first years. There was no sight of the strange arrivals from what I could see.

"Silence please." The simple command sucked the noise out the room; with everybody waiting in anticipating for the Professor's next words. "As you all are probably aware now, this evening eight students arrived unexpectedly. There is no need to worry however, they are transfers from America and simply arrived earlier than planned. They will be sorted into houses following the first years and I expect each and every one of you to treat them with the utmost respect. Their school focuses more on an elemental branch of magic, which means they will not be participating in the same class work as the rest of you. They will be joining the returning seventh years. Now, without any further ado, let the sorting begin. When I call your name, please step up to the stool and place the hat on your head." The sorting continued as normal with five first years placed in Gryffindor. As the final name was called and the boy sat down at the Hufflepuff table, Professor McGonagall cleared her throat for silence. "Would you all please kindly welcome the American transfers!" The eight transfers walked steadily into the hall, looking slightly uncomfortable with all the attention they were getting. My eyes latched onto the tall boy with black hair and sea green eyes and my heart stopped beating. The rest of the McGonagall's words were drowned out as I focused on the boy. _It can't be, not here._ I snapped back into focus as the first name was called out,

"ANNABETH CHASE!" The blond girl with grey eyes walked confidently up to the stool, barely having put the hat on before it screamed "GRYFFINDOR!". Our table cheered, but I was in too much shock to cheer along. The same happened for the black-haired boy named Nico Di Angelo. I stopped breathing as the next name was called: "PERCY JACKSON!". I was in a daze, I couldn't breathe. _It isn't possible, how can he be here._ He made his way to the Gryffindor table, sitting down next to the blond haired girl and taking her hand. The memories started rushing back before I could stop them: a large blue house sitting on a lawn overlooking strawberry fields, me crying alone, the blond boy with a scar on his face comforting me, the blond girl handing me a sword with a determined look on her face as she told me she would train me.

"Hermione are you ok?" I came crashing back to reality to find Harry grabbing my hand with a concerned look on his face. "Is something wrong?" I shook my head slightly, realising that I had missed the rest of the sorting. If my memories were correct, then it wasn't surprising that the rest of them had also been sorted into Gryffindor. "Hermione talk to me, what's wrong?" Ron had now looked over, wrenching his attention away from his abyss of food. Harry suddenly pulled away, stating: "I'm going to get McGonagall. Something's wrong."

"No, Harry –!" I started, however by plea fell on deaf ears as Harry stood up and hurried towards the teacher's table. I saw him mutter a few quick words to McGonagall before they both made their way down towards me.

"Miss Granger, what seems to be the problem?"

"I…I…" I couldn't get the words out. All I could do was look hopelessly in the direction of the transfers. Professor McGonagall followed my line of sight.

"Miss Granger do you know those people?" Harry and Ron both snapped their eyes towards me, waiting for my response. My world seemed to collapse around me as I muttered the two words that would change the rest of the year for better or for worse…

" _My brother…"_


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N - Before I start I would like to apologise for the lack of disclaimer last chapter. To make it easier, I'm just going to say for the rest of the book that I do not own any of these characters or original storyline (unless specifically created by moi). I most likely won't have many A/N's throughout the series so I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has followed/faved/read/reviewed these few chapters, it means a lot. Anyway, back to the story!**

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 **Chapter three – The Farewell**

 ***Hermione POV***

 _Flashback to five years ago – Camp Half-Blood, New York City_

"But I don't want to go!" I held Percy tighter, tears streaming down my face, "I wa..want to st..stay with you and mu..mum!" I buried by face into his chest as he stroked my hair gently.

"It's going to be ok, besides, it's only for seven years and then we'll be together again." He gave me a lopsided smile, trying to hold back his own tears. Our mum watched us sadly, her own tears gliding silently down her face.

"Hermione *hiccup*, it..it's for the best. Poseidon *hiccup* wouldn't have asked if it wasn't *hiccup* necessary." Mum could barely get the sentence out before dissolving into sobs. Percy and I both reached out and pulled her into our arms. Even Percy had started to cry, he didn't want to have to say goodbye to his little sister. He was angry at our dad for saying this had to happen.

"Why does it have to be in England though?" I wailed, trying to calm down enough to argue one last time. "What is so important about me that I have to leave you?"

"Hermione I wish there was another option." We all turned tear-stained faces to Poseidon as he appeared next to us. He glanced down at me sadly, pulling me gently from my mother and brother's embrace and into his own. "I don't want this any more than you do, sweetheart." He stroked my hair gently as he continued, "Hecate told Zeus that you needed to go that school, and he accepted. There was nothing I could do." He heaved a deep sigh, "as to why you are so important – you are special, my girl. Hecate personally blessed you at birth with abilities the rest of us can barely fathom to understand. Where you are going will – " He cut off with a pained look. "Unfortunately, I am not allowed to divulge any more information than that. The Headmaster has already contacted us with information regarding your enrolment."

"I don't understand why she has to leave now and why we can't contact her!" Percy exclaimed angrily.

"The school term starts in September, which means she will have to leave now in order to have a few months to adjust to her new routine." He looked pityingly down at Percy, "you can't contact her because it would put all of you at risk. Certain steps have been taken to protect her from monster attacks and contacting her in any way would destroy those protections. I really wish it didn't have to be so." He glanced up at the ceiling as thunder rumbled across the sky. "My time is up," he turned back to me, pulling me into a final hug, "be not afraid, Hermione. I will be there, watching over you always." With that he disappeared in a mist of seawater, taking both his comfort and my hope with him.

I turned back to my mother and brother, both of whom were trying their best to look strong for me. Even though Percy was only a year older than me, I didn't believe I could be as strong as him. The week he had spent looking for our mum after she had been kidnapped by Hades had been the worst week of my life. I'd spent it at Camp Half-Blood, crying, training, crying some more. Luke had helped me through it, comforting me and training me. When Percy finally made it back we spent weeks together learning how to use our powers. Annabeth and I grew close as she taught me how to fight. I had been so happy and thought those times would never end. But of course, they did, and now I had to say goodbye for seven years. Dark thoughts crept into my mind: _what if I come back and they don't recognise me? What if they don't want me? What if they see me as a freak?_ My face must have shown the worry because Percy grabbed my shoulders and said:

"We'll wait for you, always. We won't forget you and I hope you don't forget us. No matter what happens these next few years, soon we will all be together again, I know it." He held eye contact, daring me to argue. All I could do was sniffle and pull him close, holding onto him, pouring all the love I had for him into the hug. He was my best friend, my brother, and I didn't want to go but I knew I had to. We all said our final goodbyes, holding back the torrent of tears that would surely make an appearance once we had turned away. I took one last look at my family before touching the broken kettle that had appeared this morning, courtesy of Hecate. I felt a tug at my navel and got pulled off my feet, submerged into a whirlwind of colour and movement until suddenly, my feet hit solid ground in a large office full of small, ticking instruments. I glanced around to see a kindly old man with a long white beard and hair and half-moon spectacles peering down at me.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, Hermione Jackson." From there I followed in a daze as he took me to my new guardian's house, introducing me and telling me I was now to be called Hermione Granger.

Later that night I sat on my new bed, the tears finally spilling from my eyes as I came to terms with my new life. A life as Hermione Granger, a life without Percy…a life as a witch.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter four – The Reunion**

 ***Hermione POV***

"Your brother?! Who?" Harry and Ron gasped, both wearing identical flabbergasted expressions. Harry sobered up first.

"What do you mean your brother? I didn't know you had a brother? Hermione!" The snap of my name brought me back to my senses and allowed me to explain to the boys and an equally shocked Professor McGonagall.

"Before I lived here, I lived in America. I was told that I was accepted into Hogwarts and I had to move here. I had to leave behind my mum and my older brother Percy. I…I didn't think I would see him here, it shouldn't be possible." I looked around hopelessly, looking for some kind of explanation. "I was meant to go home after I completed my seven schooling years, but that was disrupted by the war. I couldn't contact them explaining what happened. I haven't spoken to them in years, they probably think I'm not going back. Oh my god, I have to tell him." I started to get up, fully ready to launch myself at my brother and tell him everything that had happened these past seven years.

"Miss Granger please wait." McGonagall's words yanked me to a halt. "Now those students are confused as it is, and I believe that you running up to them as a long-lost sister would just cause them to break. Please refrain from doing anything irrational! I shall go and explain the situation to Mr. Jackson and the fellow students. To limit confusion, please head to my office, you know the password, and wait there until I arrive." When I made no inclination to move she raised her eyebrow at me, "Miss Granger that means now!" With that she marched off in the direction of the transfers, dutifully ignoring the death glare I had trained on her retreating figure.

I got up from the table before turning to Harry and quickly saying: "Harry, don't forget to lead everyone to the common room and give them the password." Before he could object, I hurried away, earning quite a few curious glances from the other tables. When I arrived at the doors I glanced back quickly at the transfers seated at the opposite end of the Gryffindor table. They all had similar expressions of utmost confusion on their faces, watching Professor McGonagall converse with Percy. Before I did anything stupid, I left the hall and headed to the Headmistress's office, silently waiting for the reunion that would change my life.

 ***Percy POV***

"I'm confused, what's happening?" I glanced around at the others, they all seemed as confused as I did.

"I said, Mr. Jackson, that there is someone here waiting to speak to you and that you must accompany me to my office immediately." Professor McGonagall's impatient tone left no room for argument, it was either follow her or suffer unknown consequences. Still, I couldn't help but be hesitant. _Who on earth would want to speak to me? And here of all places, wherever_ here _is_ …In the end, I looked towards Annabeth. She considered the situation steadily before nodding slightly, indicating to me that I should listen to the scary lady and follow her to her office. With a final sigh towards my uneaten food, I got up and wandered behind the Professor. Before long we arrived at the spiraling staircase. I was about to step onto it when McGonagall stopped me with a hand.

"I will not be joining you up there. It may be slightly overwhelming but please try to remain calm. Once you are finished, please return to the Great Hall. Good luck." With that promising sentence, she departed, leaving me wondering what the Hades was going on. Without any other options, I stepped onto the staircase and waited for it to deposit me in front of the large oak doors. For some reason, I stopped before opening the door. I felt uneasy. I could hear someone pacing inside so I slipped one hand into my pocket to encircle Riptide and used the other to push open the door before stepping inside. The sight that greeted me was that of a turned back. The student had very bushy brown hair and was lean, although about a head shorter than me. Nothing could have prepared me for the heart attack I had when she turned around. For staring back at me were the deep brown eyes of Hermione, my Hermione. The sister that I hadn't seen in over seven years, the sister that I was so sure had forgotten about us. I sucked in a strangled breath as I pushed forward and wrapped my arms around her, holding her tightly so she didn't disappear. She grasped me just as tightly, neither of us saying anything, just holding each other. After what felt like an eternity we pulled back, still holding each other.

"How..what…" I could barely speak as I took in her face. A face that belonged to a woman, a face that was so different from the one I had last seen. Tears streaked this one as well, but this time they were tears of happiness instead of sorrow. I felt tears of my own slide down my face as I struggled to believe that this was real, that she was real. "This was not how I expected our reunion to be like." She huffed a laugh at my pathetic attempt at a joke.

"I missed you so much, Percy. You have no idea how horrible it was to realise I had no way to contact you. There was so much I had to tell you. I thought you would think I wasn't coming home."

"We thought you might have forgotten about us. You were meant to be home months ago! You need to tell me everything, leave nothing out." We both sat down as we told each other our stories. Hermione went first and explained her initial weeks at Hogwarts, her formation of friendships, and the war. I listened in horror as she described her torture and the battle, breaking inside at the knowledge that someone hurt my baby sister, and that I wasn't there to stop them. In turn, she listened as I told her my story. Tears welled up when I told her about Luke and his betrayal. More flowed when I told her about my time in Tartarus. Once I had finished we simply held onto each other, unwilling to let the other go in fear that it was a dream and that we would wake up to find that they were gone.

 ***Hermione POV***

I couldn't stop crying as Percy told me what he went through. I didn't have any words to express how I felt, so I grabbed him and held him tight. I wasn't going to let anyone hurt him again, and I wasn't going to leave him. The horrors I went through were insignificant in comparison to what he endured, I could see the lasting trauma in his eyes. Eyes that I had dreamt about for years, eyes that never failed to make me feel safe and loved. We managed to calm ourselves down enough to sit back and breathe.

"Perce, I can't even begin to try to comfort you after all you have been through. I'm so glad you had Annabeth. Oh, I wish I had been there for you."

"Don't stress yourself over it, Mione. The good thing is that we are together again. Once we figure out why my friends and I are here, we can do what needs to be done and then go home, together. We can be a family again. You still have to meet Paul and Estelle, they will be ecstatic!" I laughed and pulled him in for a hug again.

"Come on Aquaman, let's get back to the Great Hall."

"Aw, Hermy, you know I hate that nickname."

"And you know I hate 'Hermy'!" We continued to bicker light-heartedly the rest of the way back to the Great Hall. Percy led me over to his friends, nearly bursting with excitement.

"Guys, I would like to introduce you all to my sister, Hermione." Everyone except Annabeth looked surprised. Instead, she let out a slight squeal and wrapped her arms around my neck.

"Hermione I can't believe it's really you! I was so sad when you had to leave, we didn't even get a proper goodbye. Oh, how have you been? What's been happening? You need to sit with us and meet everyone. Oh gods, I'm so happy to see you – "

"Geeze Annabeth let the poor girl breathe." The small Latino boy held out a hand towards me. "I'm Leo Valdez, Bad Boy Supreme, and the one and only Supreme Commander of the Argo II, I'll accept autographs later."

"Leo shut up," the beautiful Cherokee girl joking pushed Leo back into his seat and extended her own hand, "it's a pleasure to finally meet you, Percy has been talking about you for months. I'm Piper! I hope we can sit down and chat, I believe we'll be great friends!"

The lanky tall boy waved from across the table. "I'm Will and this is my ray of sunshine boyfriend, Nico. Pleasure to meet you." Nico shot an impressive death glare at Will and held his hand out for a handshake.

"As Piper mentioned, Percy has been talking about you for ages, apparently something about you forgetting him or something. Not that I can blame you, sometimes I wish I could forget the constant headache that is him." His sarcasm was followed by a slight chuckle as Percy pouted and crossed his arms.

"Not cool dude, not cool."

The small girl with chocolate skin and golden eyes introduced herself as Hazel and the kind-looking bulky boy next to her said his name was Frank. Annabeth scooted down enough to make room for me as we all talked and laughed over dessert. Professor McGonagall then stood up and the hall fell silent.

"Students there are just a few announcements that need to be made before you all head off to bed. Firstly, as you probably know, we have two Head Girls and Head Boys this year. This is due to the returning seventh years unfair exclusion from a proper schooling year last year. Secondly, the returning seventh years should note that even though most of them are legally of age, any inappropriate actions unsuitable of a schooling environment will not be tolerated and will be punished accordingly. Thirdly, due to damage inflicted to the castle last year, some areas are unusable and are therefore out-of-bounds. These include the astronomy tower, the footbridge, the boathouse and the Quidditch pitch." At this, angry commotion erupted across the hall. "SILENCE! Now I understand that there are those that are unhappy with the current Quidditch situation, however, every effort is being made to repair the pitch to allow the season can commence." Once the mutterings died down, Professor McGonagall continued her announcements, "Finally, I would like you all to welcome Professor Ody who will be taking the place as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Now, off to bed all of you and don't forget to follow your Prefects for your passwords. Sleep tight." With that, Professor McGonagall sat back down, and the hall burst with motion.

"Come on, I'll show you to your dorms." I grabbed Percy by the arm and pulled him up into the slowly moving crowd. "Excuse me, make way, please! I am Head Girl, please allow the transfers to pass! Thank you!" Slowly I managed to extricate our group out of the clutches of tired students and lead them towards the Gryffindor tower. We arrived at the Fat Lady and I gave her the password (initium novum) and I showed them through the portrait hole. Since no one else had arrived yet, I led them to the comfy armchairs near the fire and we sat down to talk. The laughter and happiness that evolved made me believe that we wouldn't be getting nearly enough sleep tonight.

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 **A/N - Ugh sorry for the long chapter, a lot happened (obviously). Unfortunately, I may not have internet for a few days so I won't be able to upload more chapters. I'll** **write them though and upload soon. Hopefully, these two chapters keep you occupied until then.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter five – The Demonstration**

 ***Leo POV***

Hermione was great. She was funny, smart, headstrong, a lot like Annabeth actually. _Damn, now's there two of them._ I was really glad that Percy finally got to see her again. But even the hours of laughter and blissful ignorance couldn't disperse the dark cloud hanging over me. Jason's death and funeral came rushing back to me as I lay down to sleep: Piper crying into my shoulder as she told me what happened, our arrival at Camp Jupiter, the cold paralysis that settled over my body when I saw him. I had thought that we would at least get the opportunity to say goodbye, goodbye to our friend, our partner…my brother. But of course, it was too good to be true. I didn't know what I was going to do without him. He had always been there when I needed him, he had always laughed at my pathetic jokes. But now he was gone, and in his place was a dark, empty hole that I didn't know how to fill. I made myself focus back on reality in an attempt to halt the inevitable descent into a sorrowful abyss. As my mind settled and journeyed towards dreamland, I heard the snores and breathing of the other boys. However, the one boy I wanted to hear breathing wasn't here…and would never be here again.

 ***Harry POV***

Ron and I were already eating breakfast in the Great Hall when the transfers and Hermione arrived. They were all joking loudly, looking like a big, happy family. Hermione's eye caught mine and she excused herself from the group, heading towards us and plunking herself next to Ron, opposite me.

"I owe you guys an explanation." She started telling us her story: who she was, where she came from, her real name. All the while, Ron and I stayed silent, respecting her enough to not interrupt. When she finished she looked worried, probably fearing we would hate her for lying to us all these years. However, I didn't hate her. I felt sorry for her.

"Hermione I'm so sorry you had to go through that alone. You could have told us, we would have supported you!" She sheepishly looked at us; me with my sympathetic smile and Ron nodding vigorously in agreement.

"Thank you guys, it means so much to me." She gave Ron a small peck on the cheek and reached across to squeeze my hand. We sat there silently for a moment, just appreciating the fact that we were all here, together, safe. "Come on, I need to introduce you!" Hermione jumped up and dragged Ron with her, giving me no other option than to follow. She led us down the table to where the other transfers were sitting and pushed us into three unoccupied seats. "Harry, Ron, this is Percy, Annabeth, Piper, Leo, Nico, Will, Frank, and Hazel. Guys, this is Harry and Ron, my best friends here."

"Hey, dudes, great to finally meet you properly. Hermione told us lots about you guys last night." The guy named Percy, _Hermione's brother_ I reminded myself, said, reaching around to give us fist bumps. The others all shared their greetings around their food and we started to talk.

"So what sort of work do you guys do at your school?" I said, spreading some marmalade on a piece of toast. They glanced at each other quickly before Annabeth spoke up,

"Well, as Professor McGonagall said last night, we focus more on elemental magic instead of charms and spells. When we're twelve (sometimes younger), we get tested to see if we have any particular skills in a specific area. For example; Percy excels at water manipulation while Leo excels at controlling fire. Hazel specialises in gems and minerals, Will in healing, Nico in shadows. Piper and I specialise in other areas however, she focuses more on persuasion while I focus on architecture and research. Frank, on the other hand, has an interesting area of expertise, he can shapeshift and communicate with animals." I looked at the transfers in awe.

"Those powers sound so interesting! Do you think you could give us demonstrations later today? I would love to examine a different way to approach magic." Percy and Annabeth shared a look before looking back at me and nodding. Annabeth then thoughtfully said,

"Sure, I don't see why not. And afterward, maybe you guys could show us some spells? It would be really useful to see how you do it here, as it could help us throughout the year." We all nodded excitedly. I was about to ask where their school was but was interrupted by Professor McGonagall moving down the table, handing out our class schedules. I looked at Ron's and saw that on Monday (today) we both had Herbology, double Charms, double Transfiguration and then the rest of the day free. A quick glance at the transfers and Hermione's showed the same thing, however, on Tuesday, when we had a double session free, Hermione, Annabeth, and Nico had Ancient Runes. "Well, because we all have the afternoon free, do you want to head down to the lake after lunch and show each other our different skills?"

Everyone agreed, with Percy stating: "sounds like fun, let's do it. Now, can someone please tell me where Herbology is?"

Herbology occurred without any major incidents. This year was much more interesting than previous years, as we were allowed to deal with the larger, more ferocious plants. Aside from Percy getting a small bite from a Venomous Tentacular, the transfers handled the sentient plants well. Even going so far as to stroke the Mimbulus Mimbletonia that Neville had brought once again. Leo even gained us ten points for correctly answering what type of fertiliser worked best on tropical plants (Calypso ranted to me about it for weeks once, honestly, I'll never forget it now). Charms was interesting as the others had to try to figure out how to assemble and disassemble a clock that had been charmed to increase in size whenever a piece was positioned incorrectly. Annabeth and Leo managed to complete their task with ease, even somehow attaching an additional thermometer and cuckoo bird. Percy and Frank, on the other hand, ended up randomly putting pieces together, hoping they could fit it all before the clock got too big. This meant we all had to evacuate the classroom to allow Professor Flitwick to shrink the disfigured clock back down to a relatively normal size. Meanwhile, the returning seventh years were focusing on how to make an apple appear invisible, non-verbally. The lesson concluded with, unsurprisingly, Hermione being the only one successful enough to make her apple invisible. The rest of us had apples of varying transparency, Ron's even somehow changing colour to a bright pink instead of green. Transfiguration was delightfully simple; we were attempting to transfigure fungi and plants into edible food. Ron, Hermione and I excelled at this thanks to the practice we had had while hunting horcruxes. When Professor McGonagall walked past us and found us eating strawberries instead of fungi, she looked pleasantly surprised and said that we were not required to do homework tonight. When the final bell rang for lunch, we all made our way towards the Great Hall, happily chatting about the upcoming year.

 ***Annabeth POV***

"I already told you! I am not going to go swimming with you! It's freezing out here!" Percy continued to pout at me with his big sea green eyes. "No!" The others were all gathered around and laughing at my attempts to convince my crazy boyfriend that swimming in a lake in the middle of Scotland was not a wise idea at all. We had all just finished showing off our abilities; Percy had made the water from the lake dance around our heads and into little shapes, Leo had then turned it to steam by lighting his hand on fire. Nico made the shadows draw closer to us and Will countered this by making golden light shine comfortingly through them. Frank changed between a fish to a bird and ended up perched on Hazel's shoulder as she made her jewellery spiral around her fingers. Piper told Leo to set his nose on fire and jump on one leg. Harry and Ron nearly died when they saw that, however, it soon turned to fear when Piper smiled at them, looking all for the world like she was going to tell them to do the chicken dance or something similar.

"Please, Annie! Just one quick swim, it'll be fun!"

"No!" I turned around, ready to sit down next to Hermione and read the book she had grabbed for me. However, before I could take a step, I felt Percy's arms go around me and lift me up and into the water. I screamed as I submerged under the cold water, sucking in a quick breath from shock, only to find that I was breathing normally. Percy floated next to me with an innocent smile on his face, the air bubble around my head distorting his features.

"PERSEUS JACKSON YOU ARE SO DEAD!" I tried to swim to him so I could strangle him, but he simply darted to the left, out of my reach. I growled in frustration and attempted to follow in vain. Percy just smiled and made us both break the surface. I continued to glare at him as I made my way back to the shore, muttering curses in Greek while the others rolled on the floor in fits of laughter, tears falling down their faces. I turned around, fully ready to shout at him some more, but then I felt myself dry off suddenly and get pulled into his embrace. Percy kissed me sweetly before muttering:

"Sorry Wise Girl, you're just so cute when you're angry." I couldn't stay angry at him and instead kissed him again.

"Next time you do that I won't be so forgiving, Seaweed Brain." I pulled away from him and settled myself safely between Hermione and Nico, both of whom were still gasping for breath. I shot them a stern but joking smile and they quickly tried to sober up.

"So, what do you guys want to do for the rest of the day?" Piper's question hung in the air as we glanced towards the wizards. They exchanged a quick look before Ron turned towards us.

"We're going to take you somewhere secret. Only the returning seventh years know about it, I'm sure they won't be mind if we bring you guys along."

Hazel looked at him in confusion before voicing the question in all of our heads: "What is it?"

Ron just smirked and said: "The Pars Clava."

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 **A/N - Sorry for the late chapter, finally got internet. Hope you enjoyed!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N - I am so so so sorry for such a late update. I just got internet (finally) so I can upload more. I've also been really busy with school so I'm sorryyyy. This is a short chapter (no excuse really), so I'm posting two tonight. Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter Six – The Pars Clava**

 ***Percy POV***

The room was amazing. Even Leo didn't have any words to describe it. Returning seventh years lounged around on low, comfy couches and beanbags, laughing with friends from all four houses. Banners representing the houses hung from all the walls of the room, billowing gently in an imaginary breeze. There were little tables strewn randomly throughout the floor, piled high with all types of food imaginable. I saw Seamus and Dean howling in a corner while Neville attempted to get a strange gloopy green substance off his clothes. Draco and Parvati were playing a complicated game of chess in the middle of the room, surrounded by cheering fans. As I watched, Parvati used her bishop to decapitate Draco's remaining pawn. The room exploded with noise as Draco groaned, slouching back in defeat. While all this was happening, we were all just standing in the entrance, looking around in complete awe and disbelief.

"This is so cool!" Leo jumped up and down in excitement and went racing into the room, heading towards a large section that looked suspiciously like giant lego blocks. Annabeth took one look at his destination and raced after him, beaming from ear to ear.

Frank grabbed Hazel's hand and exclaimed: "I call food table!", before tugging Hazel towards one of the many tables groaning under the excessive weight of confectionary.

"What is this place, guys?" Nico looked expectantly towards the wizards still standing with us.

"This is the Room of Requirement, " Hermione looked around with a sad smile on her face, "we used it during the war last year as a safe haven for those still at school. After the war, it adapted to our needs and gave us this room. It's filled with everything we could possibly need to just have a good time: games, food, no supervision. The teachers obviously know about it, they just let us have our fun, considering what most of us went through last year. This room gives us the opportunity to be ourselves with no house or family distinctions." She gestured towards where Draco and Parvati had commenced another game. "Before this year, those two would never have even spoken civilly to each other. This room lets us be friends and have a good time away from the stress of school."

I glanced around the room again in awe, "that is so cool." There was even a swimming pool! I caught Will's eye and he followed my gaze, nodding in understanding, an evil grin spreading across his face.

"Hey, Nico! What's that!" Nico glanced at Will in confusion before being tackled and lifted into the air by his boyfriend. Will started sprinting towards the pool, me hot on his heels.

"Will put me down! I'm serious! You are both so dead!" Nico continued screeching until his cries were cut off by his head being submerged in three metres of waters. He calmed down and glared at us from under the water, murder in his eyes. Will and I grabbed onto each other for support as we struggled to breathe around the laughter threatening to suffocate us. Harry and Ron were both on the ground in tears, clutching their sides and trying to avoid rolling into the water. Nico had another idea and grabbed both of their robes and dragged them head first into the pool. All the girls burst out laughing at the two drenched, spluttering boys. Will gave a loud whoop and cannonballed into the water, causing Piper and the other surrounding girls to shriek as they were cascaded with water.

Before long, nearly everybody was in the water. Nearly everyone except me. Now I know, Percy Jackson not going into water?! What has this world come to!? I just couldn't bring myself to get in and mess around. I knew why though. It was because when I had properly looked around the room, I noticed a pattern repeated subtly along the walls and windows – a lightning bolt. I knew it related to Harry and the scar on his head and everything, but I couldn't help but think about another person who had once crackled with electricity, shooting sparks out of his body. That thought alone drained all the fun out me, turning me into Mr. Grumpy-No-Fun. Still, it hurt. I hadn't even gotten to say goodbye. I knew the others were mourning. Leo and Piper always seemed so down, with constant shadows of sorrow behind their eyes. I decided that we needed the opportunity to talk about it, just us.

I looked around at my friends, all smiling and having more fun than we've been allowed to have in years. This year was going to be for us just as much as it was for the returning seventh years. They went through hardships and still bounced back as strong as ever. If they could do it, so could we.

A smile slowly crept onto my face as Annabeth made a face at me, gesturing for me to get in the pool. I smiled back and dived into the water, making the current pull me towards her. When I looked into her eyes, full of understanding and love, I fully decided that I wasn't going to let anything hurt us this year – or any years to come.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven – The Goodbye**

 ***Piper POV***

I should have known something was up the minute Percy asked us to meet him in an abandoned classroom. I had no idea what was waiting for me – a cauldron full of a mystery substance, Leo wearing a dress belching 'Boy on Fire', a room full of clothing from my mother. The last one made me shudder in disgust. But nothing could have prepared me for what greeted me when I stepped through the doorway. Not only was Percy surrounded by the others, he looked solemn. Percy _never_ looked solemn. Immediately I knew that this was not going to be a normal conversation.

"Hey, guys, what's going on?" I situated myself between Leo and Annabeth, preparing for the worst.

Percy again looked at me with his solemn expression before announcing: "I thought that we all needed to talk about what happened. With Jason." Those last two words made the temperature drop significantly, all of us pulling back into our protective, defensive shells. "Now before you all start freaking out, let me explain." He glanced around at us one by one, "We were at his _funeral,_ and we were set away. I think we need to talk and properly say goodbye to him. The only way we can move on is if we accept that he is…that he is gone." Percy faltered slightly, his voice breaking on the last word. "If we keep going how we are going now, we won't ever get closure. I don't want to say goodbye the same as all of you. But we have to make this year _our_ year. No gods, no quests, just us."

The others nodded slightly, looking everywhere from the wall to the ground. However, the first person to speak up surprised me.

"Jason was there for me when no one else was." Nico stared at the ground as he talked, "He supported me after Cupid humiliated me, he stood up for me when no one else did. He was a good friend to me, even when I was cold and pushed him away." Will put his arm around Nico as he finished talking, saying only what was necessary. The others followed his lead, saying the good things that Jason did for/with them, the memories they shared. When it got to Leo everyone got quiet. For once he didn't have a joke or a smile on his face. Instead, there were tears in his eyes as he looked up and locked eyes with me.

"Jason was my best friend. He never teased me about my height or my humour. He kept me around even when all I did was annoy him. He supported me even when I didn't know I needed it. He was my closest friend, my brother." He wiped at his eyes as he uttered the last line that broke my heart. "I just miss him so much and wish I could have stopped it. It should have been me, not him. Me." I didn't hesitate to lean over and pull Leo into my arms where he shamelessly cried for his lost brother.

I took him a shuddering breath, "I loved Jason with all my heart. Even though I broke up with him and moved away, I still loved him. He was never unkind, he understood why I did what I did. He came when I called for his help. And in turn, he was killed. It was my fault he was there in the first place, he should have been at school, finishing his model of Camp Jupiter and living a normal life." I was sobbing now as I continued, "He was so good to us and we didn't even get the chance to give him a proper goodbye, one that he deserved. Leo, it should not have been you, you are just as important and you already gave your life for us." Hazel reached around Leo to squeeze my hand. She looked around at all of us: tear-filled eyes, unsteady breaths, hands holding to anyone.

"I think we should give him a proper goodbye." Everyone looked confused at her statement. "I think we should do something symbolic to say goodbye. I think we should each write our goodbyes on a piece of parchment, burn them and send the ashes off the astronomy tower, into the wind." She leaned into Frank comfortingly, "That way we can all say goodbye properly."

Half an hour later we all stood against the railing on the astronomy tower. We each held a small piece of paper in clenched fists, waiting as Leo smoothly set the corners on fire. Once each of them had been lit, we all reached out and threw them into the air. A strong gust rushed past and caught the ashes, carrying them high into the sky, away from us, until they disappeared into the never-ending abyss of the horizon.

Hazel muttered beside me: "Goodbye Jason"

Nico parroted her: "Goodbye"

Frank: "Goodbye, Jason"

Annabeth: "Farewell Jason"

Percy: "Goodbye buddy"

Will: "Goodbye, mate"

Leo: "Goodbye Jason, brother"

Until finally it was my turn.

"Goodbye, Jason. We'll meet again someday, I know it."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight – The Game**

 ***Nico POV***

I loved this school. Dangerous beasts, interesting classes, crazy teachers. It was something straight out of the old Mythomagic game I used to love. The staircases were amazing enough – constantly moving in random patterns, seemingly with the pure intention to simply make students lost. We never got lost, however, because of Hazel's powers and all. The past few weeks have been full of near deaths in Potions (Percy repeatedly blew up his potions just to see what happened. No one would appreciate having tentacles on their face for three days), confusing examples of obvious animal abuse in Transfiguration (apparently no animals were hurt in the process of turning them into cauldrons, but I don't know), and absolute failure in Care of Magical Creatures (all the creatures just ran away from me or hissed, must be the whole death vibe or something). Somehow, McGonagall had found textbooks in Greek for the dyslexic demigods, an act that made Annabeth nearly faint with excitement.

The most unusual class, however, was Defence Against the Dark Arts. The teacher, Mr. Ody, had a weird vibe about him that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Along with this, most classes he opted to teach us how to use wands and hand-to-hand combat interchangeably. His excuse was that, sometimes when you were fighting a bad guy, you couldn't always rely on magic and that you ought to know how to defend yourself in other ways. All the demigods obviously excelled in this class, and surprisingly enough, most of the wizards weren't that incompetent either. Yet nothing could erase a slight feeling of unease, or even worse, recognition, at the brown-haired teacher with the mischievous grin. He reminded me a bit of the Stoll brothers…and Luke. I turned to Annabeth, nudging her slightly with my elbow.

"Annabeth does something feel off to you about Mr. Ody?" She glanced around the room, making sure that said teacher was still on the other side of the room, helping Dean with his stance.

"I'm not sure what it is about him, he just seems…different." By now Hazel had joined into the conversation.

"He has a strong sense of power surrounding him, similar to Percy." Annabeth and I shared a worried glance at these words. Anybody as powerful as Percy was dangerous and we didn't even know if Mr. Ody was good or not.

"During the Quidditch match, we'll keep an eye on him, seeing how he reacts to certain things. Maybe we'll even get the chance to question him." Annabeth's eyes had taken on that scary glint which meant she was in planning mode. I knew one thing for sure – this week wasn't going to end without us getting some answers.

It was finally Saturday. The day of the first big game. The day we would get answers. We told everyone the plan, including Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Harry and Ron were playing so they would concentrate as much as they could but it was Hermione we really needed. Apparently, she had a knack for messing with teachers during Quidditch matches, something about a Snape and portable fire? Anyway, we were all set up and prepared: Hazel, Frank, and Piper were sitting behind Mr. Ody, somehow having talked their way into sitting in the teacher's stand. Percy and Annabeth were opposite them, binoculars and powers on hand. Meanwhile, Hermione, Will, Leo and I were all crouched uncomfortably behind the stands, dusting away spiders and cobwebs, inching ourselves closer to Mr. Ody's cloaked figure. Hermione nodded at Leo once. _It's time_. Leo's finger sparked on fire and lit one of the drapes on the side of the stands. A giant roar from the crowd was echoed another roar as the dry drape was engulfed in flames. Hazel shouted something about a fire from above us the stand erupted into chaos. During this time, I darted forward and grabbed the cloak that the Mr. Ody had discarded when he ran forward to try to stop the fire. Will and I flitted our fingers quickly through the pockets until Will let out a victorious whoop and drew out a small, leather-bound book. We hastily put the cloak back and precariously made our way down throughout the stands, emerging in between Percy and Annabeth as planned. Will had safely tucked the book into his pocket, all of us wondering the same thing – _would this finally give us some answers_?

"Come on guys, show us!" Ron's insistent nagging was starting to get on my nerves and made me consider whether it would be worth sending him on a temporary trip to the Underworld just to shut him up. However, common sense won over hope and he remained in the world of the living for another day. Will pulled out the book – it was small, probably less than half the size of a piece of parchment, and slim. It seemed pretty ordinary if you didn't count the various runes and symbols spread across the cover. Will handed it to me and almost immediately I felt that something wasn't right. The book felt wrong – it felt as if it were almost alive. I shuddered and carefully opened the front cover where a date was inscribed in the top left-hand corner – 1178. The book seemed too new to be that old, surely it was a mistake. The others shrugged and I continued to flick through the pages. There didn't seem to be anything out of place, just a few pictures and letters to loved ones. There were a few pages that seemed like diary entries but I couldn't make out the words.

One page, in particular, caught my eye, however. At first glance there was nothing strange about it: a few words scribbled ineligible, a small sketch of a woman in the corner. But it was the symbol in the bottom left corner that struck my attention; it was the Caduceus, better known as the Staff of Hermes. I glanced up at shock to see my confusion reflected upon the faces of my peers. _Why did this guy have a book with Hermes' symbol in it?_

I continued to look through the pages, eyes open for anything out of the ordinary. However, nothing turned up. It simply seemed like this was a sentimental keepsake from a few generations ago. I threw down the book in annoyance, muttering:

"Nothing. We got nothing out of that." Will took my hand and squeezed it gently.

"We didn't get nothing. We got a potential connection to Hermes, that's a start." I scoffed slightly, rolling my eyes towards the Heavens.

"Hermes gets around almost as much as Zeus. There are plenty of people with a potential connection to him. For all we know he was just a doctor and found the original symbol."

Annabeth sighed in disappointment, not liking it when her answers ran away from her.

"Guys there's no point looking for anything specific at the moment. Let's just focus on school and keep an eye on him for the time being. If anything happens, we'll be ready." Everyone nodded their agreement, and disheartened, slouched off to their rooms to prepare for bed.

I couldn't sleep however and took the book out one last time. I carefully went through all the pages again, scouring them for any clues. I was about to give up when I flipped to the back cover. Written in tiny Greek letters was a simple sentence, but one that included a name. That one name made my blood freeze and my head pound. It wasn't possible, he should be long dead, thousands of years dead. For on the back of that book read:

 _ **This is the property of Odysseus**_.

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 **A/N - Dun dun dunnnn. Sorry that was lame. I just want to say thank you so much to everyone that has favourited/followed/reviewed this story, it means a lot. I know I'm really slow at updating, I promise I'll get better (that's a lie but whatever). Hopefully, you guys are still enjoying this and it doesn't seem too stereotypical.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine – The Reveal**

 ***Ron POV***

 _Well bloody hell._ I didn't think the week could get any weirder. First demigods, now our professor was apparently Odysseus. However, as always, I was wrong.

"What do you mean they're gone?!" The question rang through the air like a bullet. Hermione had a crazed look in her eyes as she held Leo up against the wall by the collar of his shirt with one hand, the other pointing her wand between his eyes.

"Calm down woman!" Leo frantically struggled against her grasp, his crossed eyes focused entirely on the wand. "All I know is that I woke up and Percy was gone!" He threw his hands up in surrender, "Look, I thought it would be wise to tell you first because Nico and Will are gone as well. Obviously, I was mistaken." Out of nowhere his nose caught on fire and Hermione yelped, pulling back. Leo quickly patted the flames out then stood with his hands outstretched, slowly backing behind Frank for protection.

"Did you notice anything out of place?" Hermione's eyes burned towards Leo.

"No, I swear everything was normal!"

"Then whERE COULD THEY HAVE GONE!"

"I DON'T KNOW!"

"What on earth is the meaning of this!" The shouting match had attracted the attention of Professor McGonagall. She pushed through the crowd which none of us had noticed form. I stepped forward quickly, directing her fierce glare towards me.

"Percy, Nico and Will are missing."

Professor McGonagall sucked in a quick breath and glanced around at us.

"Everyone go back to the Great Hall. NOW!" The rest of the students scattered like mice, darting back through the large double doors. "Follow me you eight." With that, she marched us all towards her office. Once inside she drew up extra chairs and waited expectantly. Leo repeated what he had told Hermione while the rest of sat with bated breath. I glanced over at Annabeth because she had been quiet. She was sitting back in her chair, seeming not to be paying attention. Her eyes were pinned to the corner and her face was blank. Slowly she tightly wrapped her arms around herself, drawing deeper into silence. She turned her head to the side and caught my eye – hers were blank, only a deep worry was evident in them. I quickly turned my attention back to the others, wondering what sort of trials she had gone through to get that look in her eye.

"Ron." My name snapped my focus back into place and I found all eyes on me.

"Sorry what"

"I suggested that you, Harry and I should go have a look in the forest for any signs of them, considering that we know it the best." Hermione's voice held no room for argument so I simply nodded, willing to do anything to find my new friends. Frank offered to join us, claiming that he had a way with animals thanks to his schooling. After we all came to an agreement we headed out, grabbing only essentials before entering the forest.

 ***Will POV***

Everywhere hurt. I attempted to rub my head, only to find that my hands had been tied in front of me. Luckily, I wasn't blindfolded. My eyes soon adjusted to the darkness and I spotted two lumps on either side of me. Judging from the steady rise and fall of the sides, they were other captives. _Ugh, if only I had a light!_ The realisation hit me then. _Of course, I'm such an idiot. Son of Apollo, sure._ I took a deep breath and starting humming the soothing tune under my breath. Gradually, a small flicker began to appear in my palms, growing larger and larger with every note. Finally, there was a strong glow emitting from my hands, casting the room in bright contrast. My heart thumped as I realised that the lump closest to me was Nico, the other one being Percy.

"Nico! Wake up!" I kicked him gently in the side until he groaned and rolled over. My breathing stopped as I saw the red patch staining his shirt. I lunged forward and shook his shoulders, causing the light to shudder. "Nico! Nico answer me, please! Wake up!" His head continued to loll onto his shoulder, unconscious. "Ugh!" I yelled in frustration and crawled across to Percy. "Jackson wake up!" Forgoing any consequences, I slapped him roughly across the cheek.

"Arhg! What the –!" He continued spluttering, attempting to sit up. "Oh gods, my head." He swayed slightly, going green. I grabbed him before he could faceplant and gently propped him up against the wall. He gazed hazily up at me, "Will? What's going on? Where are we?"

"I had hoped you knew." I rested my hand on his forehead as I spoke, deducing that he had a slight concussion. "I need your help, Percy. Nico won't wake up and he's injured." My worry made my voice shake as I tried to control myself. Breaking down wasn't going to wake Nico up any faster. "Can you stand?" Percy groaned and shook his head slightly. "Ok, this might hurt a bit at first." I put my hands on either side of his head and started humming. He stiffened as my magic flowed into him but soon relaxed as it washed away the pain, gently healing him. I slouched back, panting slightly. "How do you feel?"

"I feel great, although I could really do with some cookies. Preferably blue." I huffed a laugh at his attempt at humour, still out of breath. Only Percy would joke about food in the face of danger.

"Come on, help me move Nico." Together we gathered his small form up and moved him against the wall. Now that he was sitting, I pulled his shirt off and examined his injury. It wasn't as bad as I initially thought but looking at it still made me feel nauseous. The top of his chest was raw as if he had been dragged over something repeatedly. Blood lazily dribbled out of it, mixed with a strange black substance. I gathered some on my finger, smelt it, and promptly gagged. "Poison." Percy looked at me in alarm.

"Can you heal him?"

"I'm not sure, I need more equipment. Ambrosia or nectar, anything to help with the healing." Percy searched through his pockets hurriedly.

"Aha!" He triumphantly pulled a tiny square of wrapped ambrosia out of his pocket. "Annabeth always makes me carry around some, just in case." He said in reply to my incredulous expression. I shook my head in wonder and carefully stuffed the square into Nico's mouth. I hummed a tune while holding my hands over his chest, mentally praying to my dad and Hades and any god I could think of. At long last Nico coughed and groaned.

"Nico! Thank the gods!" Percy exclaimed happily before jumping up and pumping his fist in the air. Nico looked around sleepily and groaned:

"If Percy is here it means we're in trouble, aren't we?" I laughed as Percy huffed.

"That's not fair Nico, I get you out of trouble just as much as I get you in."

"Ok boys, enough bickering. We need to figure out how to get out of wherever we are." My words caused them to quiet down, all of us glancing around the room. It had grown lighter now, thanks to a small slit in the top left-hand corner which was letting in sunlight. "Percy, boost me up, I want to see if I can see anything out of that hole." He helped me onto his shoulders and then thrust me into the air. I grabbed the ledge and pulled myself as close as I could get. Spread out before me was a view that would've been beautiful if we hadn't been trapped in a stinking room. Green hills topped in white encircled the horizon, strong soldiers guarding the land. On the left was a silent forest, growing far and proud and wild. A large, still lake blinked back at me from the right, before giving way to a dominating stone tower which was built on the far side. Contrary to the slimy state of the room, the angle at which I saw this view suggested that we were high up, perhaps in a lower level of a tower similar to that opposite me.

I leant forward, hoping to gain an understanding of what lay beneath us when suddenly the door slammed open, startling Percy and I and causing me to crash to the floor. I gingerly picked myself up off the floor and faced our visitor. His brown hair looked black in the growing light and his usually handsome face was twisted into a mischievous smirk that left me feeling on edge. I crept backwards, edging towards Nico's crumpled form, who had fallen into unconsciousness once again. Percy took up a fighting stance, disbelief and confusion filling his face as he stared at Professor Ody's figure leaning against the doorpost, casually spinning a dagger between his fingers.

"Let's talk shall we?"

 ***Hazel POV***

While Harry, Ron, Hermione and Frank searched the Forbidden Forest, Piper, Leo, Annabeth and I ran around the castle, darting in and out of rooms in search for the boys. As we continued to sweep through the rooms with no sign of them I got more and more frustrated. The one time we felt safe and of course, something rips us apart.

 _Oh Nico, where are you?_

 ***Percy POV***

"So sorry about the room and the restraints. But we couldn't have you running away before we got to talk, could we?" Professor Ody stalked into the room and rested himself comfortably against the wall. He glanced at Nico who was still unconscious and smirked. "Oh dear, he doesn't look very good does he?"

"Don't you talk about him that way!" Will jumped up angrily, looking ready to rip into Professor Ody.

"I wouldn't if I were you, sunshine. I've been alive much longer than you and know more than a few ways to inflict terrible suffering on all of you." Will continued to glare down our teacher, standing protectively in front of Nico's body.

"What do you want from us?" My question drew Ody's attention away from Will and Nico, instead focusing that cobalt stare on myself.

"What do I want? Nothing. However, there is someone here who requires the specific skills of one of you. I'm not going to tell you who though, that takes all the fun out of it." He cackled at our confused looks.

"You're Odysseus aren't you." My statement earned a laugh from Odysseus.

"Very good, and here I was thinking that Annabeth did all the thinking for you." He straightened, drawing up to his full height. "You are correct. I am Odysseus. King of Ithaca, son of Laërtes, great-grandson of Hermes."

"But you died hundreds of years ago, how are you alive now?" I started inching my way away from Will and Nico, drawing Odysseus' attention with me.

"So many questions, Perseus. Perhaps I'll answer them. If you earn them." He stopped twirling the dagger and pointed it at me. "Complete a test I set you and perhaps you will gain the answers you seek."

I continued moving, feigning thought. "What type of test?"

Odysseus scoffed, "Worry yourself not, you have surely completed more trying challenges. I simply don't have the time or patience to set anything gravely dangerous." I stopped walking, focusing all my attention on Odysseus. I had managed to turn him around so that his back was to Will and Nico. I caught Will's eye subtly and tried to portray my plan. He seemed to understand and nodded slightly, rising on silent feet like a cat ready to pounce.

"What if I refuse to complete your test?"

"Well then you are free to continue to sit in this disgusting place," He waved a hand around dismissively, "and surely you would prefer something more comfortable. Perhaps with a window?" He smirked knowingly, clearly having seen our attempt to gauge our surroundings.

I glanced back to Will who had somehow managed to creep up behind Odysseus without him noticing. "Nah, I'm going to have to decline sorry, I'm a very busy man and don't think I can fit it into my schedule." Odysseus' smirk turned into a sneer and he growled slightly at me. Before he could do anything more, however, Will jumped on his back and knocked him to the ground. I raced forward, grabbed the dagger from where it flew out of his hand and slammed the pommel into the back of his head. His head dropped to the ground with a satisfying thud.

I quickly cut myself and Will free and we lunged towards Nico, untying him and draping his arms over our shoulders. We lugged him out of the room and locked the door behind us, baring it closed with a nearby guard chair. Odysseus obviously hadn't expected us to fight back, as there was no one else in sight. With urgency in our minds, we hurried down the brightly lit corridor and through the large iron door. Being sure to keep an eye out for guards or residents, we made our way carefully along the downward spiralling walkways, before forcing ourselves through a final door into a beautifully decorated courtyard full of trees, flowers and sitting areas. Ignorant of the beauty we charged ahead, swerving amongst the trees to put as much distance between us and the crazy professor. We stopped for breath after twenty minutes of half-running half-dragging and glanced around us to ensure the cost was clear. We couldn't detect any forms of pursuit so we lowered Nico against a tree and caught our breaths. I felt my pockets quickly and pulled out Riptide, uncapping the pen and offering us some means of protection.

"Where are we going to go now, we have no idea where we are?" Will gasped out the question while bending over Nico, checking to see if he was alright.

"I'm not sure." I took a deep, shuddering breath. "We need to find somewhere safe where we can make a plan." With that, we both grabbed Nico by the arms again and starting heading east deeper into the forest. After a few hours of walking, we stumbled across the start of the mountain range. Peering into the growing darkness we saw a brief outline of an indent in the rock's surface. We quickly squeezed into the cave entrance and found ourselves in a large cavern full of stalagmites and stalactites, with a small, cold river running smoothly through the floor.

"This should be ok for now." I helped Will lie Nico down against a stalagmite and went to get some water. I formed a floating sphere and sent it towards the others, giving them an opportunity to replenish themselves. Will gulped down the water and then cupped some into Nico's mouth. Soon enough Nico's breathing turned slow and steady, indicating that he had fallen into a deep sleep.

"Percy, how are the others going to find us?" Will held one of Nico's hands in his comfortingly and glanced at me.

"I don't know Will. All we can hope is that they find us soon, or we're going to be in big trouble."

 ***Hazel POV***

Everyone was gathered in the common room in a calm state of panic. No one was outwardly nervous but the air was electrified with our tension. The others had been unsuccessful in the forest, finding not so much as a broken twig to indicate something amiss.

Piper glanced around at us and muttered. "We probably should try to get some sleep. We're no use to them exhausted." The others agreed and started making their way upstairs. Hermione and Annabeth held onto each other, tears of worry finally starting to appear in their eyes. Frank and Leo bade me goodnight before I made my way up to bed. I struggled to get to sleep, my nerves keeping me awake. However, just as I started drifting off out of pure exhaustion, a small voice filled my head and I sat straight up in shock. It continued to repeat the same three words, over and over again, growing louder and louder with each beat of my heart. Nico's voice filled my every thought and feeling.

 _"Hazel. Find us."_

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 **A/N - So so sorry for how late it is, I've been really busy. Also, I noticed that in the last chapter I referred to Ody as Mr Ody, but it should've been Professor Ody so sorry about that. Hopefully, this long one makes up for the lack of uploading.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N - Before you start, I again need to say sorry for the late upload. I'm trying to do once a weekend if possible. Also, I've decided that I'm changed the rating from T to M because I think some of the later chapters will include more language and adult themes (you'll see * _wink_ *). Thank you to everyone who has followed/reviewed. If you have any suggestions/questions feel free to send them through, I love hearing from you. Now! Onto the story. **

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**Chapter Ten – The Rescue**

 ***Nico POV***

 _Well fuck my head hurt_. I groaned and slowly peeled my eyes open, blinking sluggishly at the soft sunlight streaming into the – wait, where were we? I attempted to sit up, only to find my efforts stunted by the long body lying against my side. I glanced over and saw Will curled up like a cat on his side with his head resting on my stomach. I stilled, not wanting to disrupt his peaceful sleep. He looked so calm while asleep with all the worry lines etched from years of struggle smoothed out and leaving him looking younger, more carefree. I gently ran my hands through his bright waves, savouring the quiet time I got to appreciate his company…

"Nico you're awake!" And of course, my quiet was ruined by none other than Perseus Jackson. He loped towards me like an overgrown puppy and threw himself on the ground beside me, jostling Will awake.

"Oh Nico, thank the gods!" Will embraced me tightly then pulled back as I failed to contain a flinch. He gingerly lifted the front of my shirt to expose my still raw chest. I shivered as his hands hovered over the slowly healing scabs, expelling his soothing magic. Considering that I looked like I had been rubbed against a cheese grater, it was amazing that my head was the only part of me that made me want to rip it off. Will winced at the bleeding cuts and starting muttering under his breath. I turned my attention to Percy and groaned as my head spun. Fighting back nausea, I noticed that he was watching me with a weird expression on his face.

"What? Is there some part of me missing?" He ducked his head and chuckled nervously, tilting his head to expose a sheepish and apologetic look. "Jackson what did you do?"

"You see," he mumbled, "I may have accidently bumped your head pretty impressively on a boulder outside while you were unconscious…" Will snapped his head up and glared profusely at Percy.

"You didn't mention that to me! You said you hit a rock!"

"Well, technically I did hit a rock…with Nico's head…"

"Jackson!"

"I'm sorry ok!"

I laughed croakily. "So that's why my head feels like Festus has sat on it." I continued to observe our surroundings: damp cavern, sharp, looming stalagmites and stalactites, dripping water, the usual location for an escape. "Ok, someone tell me what happened since I passed out." Thus, began the lively recount of the journey from our cell to our current cubbyhouse. All the while, my chest and throat itched, begging me to save them from their misery and to actually give my body some sort of revitalisation. Will interpreted my meagre hand waving and told Percy to bring me some water. Afterwards, we all sat around each other in silence, not daring to voice to question hanging in the air. _What now?_

 ***Hazel POV***

"I'm telling you! I heard Nico! He said: 'find us'." My protests continued to fall on deaf ears.

"Hazel, I know how much you want it to be true but the protections around the school don't allow communications like that." Hermione looked at me sadly, "I'm sorry but it can't have been Nico. We will keep looking until we find them, they can't have gotten far."

I glared up at the older girl. "Ugh!" Stomping off, I scattered first years in every direction as I made my way towards the Great Hall to meet the other demigods. Once there, I located Frank's burly form and beelined towards him. Plonking myself down in the seat next to him, I grabbed a piece of toast and furiously smeared it with butter and marmite.

"Hazel are you ok?" Frank looked over in concern, his big puppy dog eyes burning into mine.

"Hermione still insists that it can't have been Nico talking to me because of the protections around the school." I nibbled miserably at my toast while the others exchanged heavy glances. "What?" I looked around at them, "what aren't you telling me?... Leo?"

Leo scratched behind his ear and avoided my gaze. He finally broke under the daggers my eyes sent him. "Well Haze, we were talking and…well…" He glanced up and hurriedly said, "we believe you! We do, seriously! We were just thinking that perhaps it was time to take matters into our own hands." He looked around to see if anyone else was eavesdropping's, leaning forward he continued, "we want to try to get out of the school and find them. We don't think they're on school property. Harry has a really handy map and their names aren't on it. Harry and Ron have offered to help us. We haven't mentioned it to Hermione and Annabeth though, we didn't want to get their hopes up in case we were wrong."

"So, what? All of you were going to suddenly disappear and expect us to not freak out? You need to tell them! For gods, sake Percy's their brother and boyfriend! If I were missing I would be ok knowing that Nico and Frank were coming to find me! And on that note, were you going to tell me? Nico is my brother and I will not let him get hurt!" I glowered at Leo and the others as they hung their heads in shame. "We need to go talk to Hermione and Annabeth. Now." With that, I gathered the rest of my toast and marched out of the Hall with the others following on my heels. The trip to the fat lady seemed shorter than usual, thanks to the adrenaline coursing through my body. I practically shouted the password at her ( _gedw_ _ë_ _y ignasia_ ) before leaping through the portrait hole. Sprinting towards where Annabeth, Hermione, Ron and Harry sat, I took steadying breaths as the others caught up. Finally, Leo staggered up to us, wheezing heavily, and I burst into the explanation of our plan. They all watched with wide eyes, Harry and Ron out of surprise and Hermione and Annabeth out of hope. The girls shot daggers at the boys at the mention of their names in the plan, with the boys offering sheepish smiles in return.

I concluded and we all waited with bated breath for their reaction. Hermione and Annabeth looked at each other and seemed to be having a silent conversation through looks alone. At last, they turned towards us and said in unison: "We're in."

 ***Will POV***

"I'm hungry! My insides are eating each other! I shall never survive this eternal torture!" Percy continued to moan his misgivings for the world to hear until finally, I snapped.

"Percy you ate twenty minutes ago!" Silence. Nico and Percy both looked at me in surprise before Percy grinned and said,

"Well, as a doctor you of all people should know that someone such as myself – a growing boy participating in physically exerting activities – requires more food than a handful of mushrooms to properly replenish my lost energy." Nico sniggered quietly at the look of astonishment on my face.

"Wow Percy," Nico sniggered again, "I didn't think you could form sentences as eloquent as that." I burst out laughing at the look of overexaggerated hurt Percy threw to Nico.

"For your knowledge Nico, I am particularly skilled in the area of eloquence and speech, as I have had to talk my way out of more than one tricky situation." He looked proud of himself until I muttered under my breath:

"More likely he spends too much time with Annabeth." Nico barked a laugh at that and after a moment Percy and I joined in, adding our mirth until we all descended into hysteria. We sat gasping for breath for minutes after we managed to contain ourselves and again were faced with our dilemma. _How were we going to get out of here?_

Percy jerked up suddenly, eyes enlightened like a madman. "I have an idea." Nico and I quieted, looking expectantly at Percy. "Will, do you remember seeing any openings in the mountains when you looked out the window?" I thought back to the image of the scenery.

"Actually yes! There was one towards the right of the forest. But it was behind the other watchtower, the only way to get there would end up with us in plain sight of anyone there."

"Well was there anything else we could use for cover?" I continued to strain my memory. Suddenly it hit me and a wide grin spread over my face.

"I think I know how we can pass unseen." Both Nico and Percy looked at me. "There was a lake next to the forest that led directly to the opening. All we need to do it cross it."

"How?" Percy continued to look confused.

I smiled again. "We're going to walk through it."

 ***Hazel POV***

Convincing Professor McGonagall to allow us to leave Hogwarts to look for Percy, Will and Nico was surprisingly easy. Apparently, because the demigods weren't technically students, she didn't have authority over us and Harry, Ron and Hermione were all of legal age and therefore could make decisions for themselves. No matter the case, two hours after I announced the plan we were walking out the front gates, heading towards the boundary of the school's protection. None of us had any idea of how we were going to locate the boys, but for the time being, we were only worried about getting away cleanly.

Hermione stopped at a tree ten metres outside the boundary and turned towards me.

"Hazel, do you think you could try to reach Nico with your mind? Can you try to remember what it felt like when you heard his voice? Maybe you can contact him back and get a location?"

I closed my eyes in concentration. I concentrated on what it had felt like when his mind brushed mine. I thought of everything that reminded me of Nico: aviator jackets, his thin hands dancing over ivory piano keys, our mutual habitual motion to twist our rings around our fingers. Unknown minutes passed until I suddenly felt a warm presence at the corner of my consciousness. "I…I think I feel something. Give me a minute." I probed towards that warmth, projecting with all my might images and memories of Nico. I felt a tentative tendril reach out towards me. _Hazel?_ I lunged out blindly towards the tendril and grasped it with my mind.

 _Nico, it's me._

 _Oh, thank the gods, finally someone sane to talk to. How are you doing this?_

 _I don't know, you contacted me last night this way and I tried copying it._

 _That's weird, I was unconscious, I don't remember anything from last night._

 _That's not important, where are you?_

 _I don't know. Will has a plan for us to cross a lake to get to some openings in a nearby mountain range, but I don't know where we will go from there._

 _Send me through an image if you can. We've got the wizards with us, maybe they can lead us to you._

 _One second._ Hazel could feel his concentration until an image blazed brightly behind her eyes. She saw the scene through Nico's eyes. He was looking directly at a wide expanse of water. To his left, there were the tell-tale signs of a forest and behind the lake was a domineering mountain range. On the far side of the lake, at the limit of his eyesight, there was a tiny slit in the mountains. It seemed like a jagged wound compared to the perfect symmetry surrounding it.

 _We're heading towards that entrance. Do you think you could meet us there?_

 _How are you getting there?_

 _Percy is going to lead us through the water._ Hazel nearly laughed at his obvious discomfort at the idea. She quickly revised the image and settled on the tiny spot near the entrance. Enough detail was available that she could easily identify it if they happened upon it, but she still had no idea how they were going to get there.

 _Ok, Nico, I'm going to tell the others now. See if you can get there and find somewhere safe to settle. We'll find you as soon as we can. I'll contact you again if something goes wrong._

 _Ok. And Hazel?_

 _Yes?_

 _I love you._

 _I love you too Nico._ I left my mind wander back to reality and swayed as exhaustion hit me like a truck. Frank quickly caught me and set me upright, resting a hand on my back to steady me.

"Did you manage to contact Nico?" Annabeth looked at me, hope evident in her eyes.

"Yes, I did, they're all ok." Everyone sighed in relief. "Nico told me that they were planning to walk through a lake to get to an opening in some surrounding mountains. If we can somehow meet them there, we should be able to get everyone out and back to Hogwarts."

"But how do we get there? Where even is there?" Piper's question made us all pause. The wizards made eye contact and nodded, a secret understanding passing between them.

"Wizards have a way of transporting over large distances that we could try." Harry glanced at the group, "It's called apparition. There's eight of us right now so if Hermione takes Piper and Annabeth, Ron takes Leo and I take Frank and Hazel, it means we can still take the others on the way back. The only issue is figuring out how to visualise the place, seeing as Hazel was the only one to actually see it." I frowned, my eyebrows furrowing together.

"Perhaps I could try and plant the image in your mind the same way Nico did?" Harry and Hermione glanced at each other.

"It's worth a shot." Hermione shrugged. I reached out with my mind, again trying to disconnect my consciousness from reality. Harry was closest so I directed my thoughts towards him. I hit a barrier of sorts and without meaning to I pushed through it, entering quickly into Harry's mind. More barriers attempted to form, meaning that Harry was aware of my presence. However, the action soon calmed and I projected the image of the mountain pass into his mind. I withdrew and repeated the process with Hermione and Ron, albeit with fewer defences. I opened my eyes to see them looking slightly queasy.

"Are you all ok?" I nervously looked around, hoping I hadn't injured my friends by accident.

Harry spoke up first, shaking his head slightly like a dog trying to rid itself of water. "Yeah, I'm good. It was a really weird feeling. I automatically tried to remember what I was taught during my occlumency lessons. I think you might have a talent for legilimency."

Hermione gasped. "Of course, it makes sense now! That explains how you were able to talk to Nico, you are connected and both must have that skill." Leo twiddled his thumbs and announced:

"So, do you all know where we have to go?" The wizards nodded and grasped hands with their corresponding passengers. I took Harry's hand and focused on the image of the pass, in hopes that I could assist in directing him. A horrible squeezing sensation overtook me and I had difficulty breathing, black dots floating around my vision, head spinning. Just when I thought I would pass out from lack of air, the sensation passed and I inhaled a large breath. Panting, I bended over and put my hands on my knees. It took me less time to recover than the other demigods, I think because of all the times I had shadow-travelled with Nico, this wasn't that different. I squinted around at our surroundings and noticed that we were standing in the shadow of a towering wall of stone. _We made it_.

 ***Nico POV***

"I fucking hate this idea. I fucking hate water. I fucking hate you Percy." I continued to mumble profanities under my breath as we continued to trudge forward at the bottom of the filthy lake. Percy controlled the water to ensure we could breathe and weren't wet, but the logic of that still failed me. We were underwater, of course we were still wet! Will held my hand tighter and muttered in my ear:

"I quite prefer land too, for reasons other than the obvious." I grinned as I looked towards our guide. Percy was chatting happily with a fish that had swum up to him a good ten minutes ago. Will was unnerved by the talking fish and favoured to hang back with me where all the animals avoided. We had been walking under the lake for nearly twenty minutes and far shore looked no further than it had at the start. All we could see was a hazy swirl of plants and grime. _Ugh, I am so going to need a long shower after this._

Finally, Percy jumped back towards us. "Arnold says that shore is only 200 metres away or so."

"Arnold?" I shared an incredulous glance with Will, both of us struggling to contain our giggles. We all quickened our pace, eager to be rid of our murky surroundings. Even Percy was uncomfortable in the muck. " _Honestly, don't these people know anything about environmentally safe recycling?"_

At long last, the ground started sweeping upright and the water started clearing up. With a final hurdle, our heads broke above the surface of the water and we were embraced by cool, fresh air. The three of us scrambled out of the lake and jogged towards a group of trees, hoping to get out of sight before we were spotted.

Sitting on a rock, Percy pumped his fist in the air. "Yes! We made it!"

"My, my if only that were so." We all turned around in horror slowly, coming face to face with the one and only Odysseus. Percy groaned and hit his head with his palm, muttering about how of course we couldn't get a break. Odysseus watched on in amusement. From what I could see and sense, he was alone. It was three against one, but for some reason, I still wasn't convinced it was in our favour. "Honestly boys, did you seriously expect me not to notice you when you crawled out of the forest and into the lake? I have two giant towers situated on either side of the lake for that exact reason." He leapt closer suddenly, grabbing my arm and twisting me around, holding a celestial bronze knife to my neck. All this happened within a few heartbeats and neither Will nor Percy could react. _Well fuck._

Odysseus laughed maniacally at that dumbfounded expressions on their faces and tightened his hold on me. "Now, I expect you three to sensibly follow me back to the tower, we never got to finish our talk." He took a step forward, pushing my shoulder so I stumbled. Out of nowhere came a shrill scream:

"NOT MY BROTHER YOU DICK!" Hazel vaulted out of the canopy above us and landed directly upon Odysseus, immediately smashing him into the ground into unconsciousness. She straightened, took a deep breath, saw me, squealed and ran to me, pulling me into an impressive bone-crushing hug from someone her size.

"Oh, thank the gods you're ok!" She released me and promptly smothered Will and Percy in equally rib-breaking hugs. Thundering footsteps echoed through the trees surrounding us as the others ran into view.

"PERCY!" Annabeth flew at him and tackled him, holding him tightly and sobbing. Hermione followed closely behind, causing the three of them to fall to the ground in heap. Leo and Piper ran over to Will and I and embraced us as well ( I even let them). Meanwhile, Frank went to Hazel to check on her.

"We were so worried when you suddenly ran off, it took ages for us to find you." He grabbed her in a rough bear hug, then set her carefully back on the floor. "Don't do that again." Frank could never stay angry though and gave Hazel a quick peck on the lips. Annabeth, Percy and Hermione had recovered now and were making their way to intersperse with the others. Annabeth pulled me in tight and whispered: "I'm so glad you're all ok." Harry and Ron had spent the time gagging and restraining Odysseus.

"Oi," Ron caught all our attention, "why is our bloody DADA teacher knocked out on the ground like Neville at Christmas?" Hazel explained how she had jumped on him and Ron, in disgust, kicked him slightly harder than necessary to turn him over. Harry meanwhile, did a headcount.

"Hermione?" He glanced over at the witch, "I gather we're going to bring him," he pointed vaguely at the unconscious man, "but how are we each going to carry four people? Can we even do that." Hermione thought about it for a moment before replying logically:

"As long as everyone keeps a strong grip, we should be fine."

I looked around at them, confused. "I can shadow-travel myself and Will, that was you have fewer people to take."

"Absolutely not." Will jumped in before the wizards could reply. "We don't know how far away Hogwarts is, you'll kill yourself, and not to mention me if you try."

I glowered at him darkly. "I shadow-travelled across the Pacific with Reyna, Coach Hedge and a forty-foot Athena."

Will glared right back. "And it nearly killed you. So, the answer is no. Do you want to hear it in Spanish? Noh!" We continued our staring match until Harry roughly grabbed our arms. Hazel and Frank grabbed his arms in turn and I looked around the see the others had positioned themselves accordingly, with Ron and Leo holding Odysseus.

With a sickening twisting and lurching feeling, the mountains and forest disappeared. Seconds passed where it felt as if I were being pulled through a tube until I was shot out of the end with Harry and Will landing on me. My groan of pain was muffled by the grass and the cold hit me in the face like a brick. Sitting up I shivered and saw in the distance the glowing lights of Hogwarts. I heard the others release sighs of relief and wrap themselves tighter in their coats. Will and Hazel grabbed my hands and we all began the long walk up towards the castle.

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 **A/N - And that's the end of this chapter! It's long to make up for the lack of uploading! Love you all xx**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N - Omg I am so sorry for such a late update. This chapter is slightly longer as an apology. WARNING: it does contain adult themes and language. Hopefully, I will be able to update more frequently soon. Enjoy!**

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 **Chapter Eleven – The Exploration**

 ***Annabeth POV***

Even though it was nearly midnight by the time we trudged our way to the giant oak doors at the castle's entrance, they flung open and a small, red-headed girl flew out of them and into Harry.

" _Ginny?!_ ", Ron exclaimed in an incredulous tone, "What are you doing awake?". Ginny extricated herself away from Harry's mouth long enough to explain that Professor McGonagall had found her shortly after we had left and explained the situation, giving her permission to wait for our return.

"And you were for hours longer than she thought. Half the castle is awake with worry. McGonagall's beside herself and hasn't stopped pacing in the Great Hall for about an hour.". As soon as the words left Ginny's mouth, a loud bang sounded as the double doors burst open again, expelling a frazzled looking Professor McGonagall. Her hair was falling out of her usually tight bun and she looked on the verge of fainting.

"Oh, thank goodness you're back, I was so worried.". Her hurried path towards us was abruptly halted as the candlelight illuminated the face of our unfriendly guest. "Professor Ody! What on earth is he here and why is he unconscious?".

"I body-slammed him into the ground.". Professor McGonagall looked as if she had been slapped at Hazel's confession. "To be fair," Hazel continued, "he did kidnap and threaten our friends."

Professor McGonagall glanced between our group before declaring: "My office. Now.".

The explanation took less time than expected and we were soon dismissed to bed. Our sorry group stumbled past an aggravated Fat Lady and into the common room below. Hazel and Hermione looked half inclined to follow the boys into their rooms instead of heading back to the girl's dorm.

"She'll forgive us this one night…won't she?". Hazel's question bounced between the girls until we finally accepted our inevitable fate and agreed to stay with the boys for the night. I grabbed Percy's hand tightly and followed him to his room. With twelve of us stuffed into a room made for five boys, finding a space to sleep was like finding a needle in a haystack. I knew that the boys were messy but it never fully processed until I was standing in the middle of an apparent bomb site. Unsurprisingly, the only clean section was Will's bed, with him all being about 'hygiene and cleanliness!'. Hermione made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat and wave her wand: dirty clothes went into hampers, rubbish disappeared, beds were made. Another wave of her wand made sleeping bags, pillows and blankets appear in a heap. Leo was the first to offer his bed to Piper and claim a sleeping bad and pillow. Frank, Ron and Harry soon followed suit. Nico and Will merely got into one bed and left the other spare for Percy and I. Percy calmly led me towards it and laid down next to me, stroking soothingly down my hair and back. I didn't realise I was crying until he kissed the tears off my cheek. The sounds of the others sleeping hovered in the back of my senses, finally allowing Percy and I a moment of quiet.

"It's ok wise girl, I'm here.". Percy continued to move his hand up and down until my sobs quieted down and my head cleared.

"I was so worried Perce. I thought I had really lost you this time.". I pulled him closer, savouring his warmth and the general _feel_ of him. His breath tickled my neck as he leaned down to whisper in my ear:

"I will never leave you, wise girl.".

The sound of Leo waking us up for breakfast was enough to make me wish the little Latino had fallen of Festus over the Pacific Ocean. I groaned and rolled back over, half-covering Percy.

"Rise and shine boys and girls! Today is a new day, full of adventure and mystery! But where does that start? BREAKFAST!". A solid thump and a cry of pain echoed from the spot where Nico had pegged a pillow, before turning back over and settling next to Will comfortably.

Leo bounced back up like a little energiser bunny. He pouted at Nico. "Now that's not very nice buddy.". He hopped back laughing as another pillow hurtled his way. By now he had managed to rouse the others, all grumbling and moaning about the ungodly hour. Another half-an-hour passed before he successfully managed to herd us down the Great Hall where the last late risers were trickling in, following the glorifying smell of bacon.

"Mmnnnn, baaaaaacon.", Percy mumbled hungrily, tripping forward into his seat and grabbing the closest platter of bacon. He barely looked as he grabbed two pieces of toast and piled them with bacon, before steadily munching his way through them, one in each hand. The rest of us glanced at the platter in front of him and decided to gather our food from another one, for the safety of our fingers.

"Hey Perce, maybe slow down a bit, we don't want you asphyxiating.". The noise Percy made in response to Will's comment could not be defined as human and everyone quickly decided to let him eat in peace. Will piled food onto Nico's plate, saying that he had to eat after two days of near-to-nothing except for mushrooms. Nico glowered but shoved various foods into his mouth anyway. _Aw, true love_. Professor McGonagall marched her way towards us, glancing disapprovingly at Percy's eating habits before stating:

"As you all have had quite an eventful few days, you are all excused from your classes for today. Yes, even you Miss Weasley.". Leo let out a loud whoop and fist bumped the air, his eyes glinting in a way which I knew meant trouble. The rest of breakfast passed uneventfully unless you count Leo successfully throwing grapes into Draco's pumpkin juice as an event. Now that we could relax slightly, we were properly introduced to a few others in our year and Ginny's: Neville, Luna, Dean, Seamus, Parvati and Draco. Most of the trio's peers hadn't chosen to come back for their eighth year, those who survived that is. They had explained who Draco was and the complications around their newly formed acquaintance. He seemed very subdued and sad, however, that didn't stop him from throwing apple slices back at Leo in revenge. Once breakfast finished, those of us who had the day off meandered our way back upstairs to the common room. Leo, Piper, Ginny, Nico and Will decided to head down to the lake to try to meet the giant squid. Hazel and Frank, on the other hand, decided to take a lovely stroll around the grounds. Before Ron and Harry could run off with the others to the lake, Hermione grabbed them by their collars and declared that they would be studying as they could not fail their N.E.W.T.S. With that, she dragged the sulking boys to a far corner next to the fire and promptly dropped piles on books on their laps. That just left Percy and me.

"Would you like to go for a walk?", Percy seemed to read my mind as he gently took my hand and led me out of the portrait hole. We wandered the halls, dodging ghosts and Peeves, the poltergeist who had taken a frightening liking towards Leo. The various paintings uttered their greetings as we passed, swinging our linked hands back and forth like children. As we neared the seventh floor, I remembered the room where Harry, Ron and Hermione had shown us the Pars Clava. I led Percy towards it, wondering what it would look like without anyone else there.

After the door had appeared, we pushed ourselves and I gasped at the sight spread before us. Books lay everywhere. On the walls, on every surface, even on the floor. Not only that, there was a bath about the size of a small swimming pool, full of sparkling, clear water. Various diagrams of buildings hung from the walls all around us and I ate the images up, savouring all the details and precision of workmanship.

"This place is amazing.", I sat down on the king bed situated against the far wall. Percy joined me and pulled me close, gazing in awe at the room around us.

"It has everything we would every dream off.", his eyes looked glazed and far away as they continued to sweep the room, "This is what our lives would look like if they were normal.", a sad note had crept into his voice, seeping away the warmth that filled me at the sight of the room.

"We can still have this seaweed brain. We can make our lives our own, no one else's.". I put my hands on either side of his cheeks, leaning forward until my lips brushed his. I felt him relax and pull me closer, deepening the kiss. We had never gotten a peaceful moment to ourselves before, they had always been filled with some issue from someone else. The knowledge that we were alone seemed to change the way the kiss felt. It felt more thorough, more devouring.

I felt Percy shudder under me as I repositioned to sit on his lap, my legs on either side of him resting on the bed. His hands tightened in my hair and around my waist, mine tightening in response. I sucked in a sharp breath as his lips found my jaw, lazily working their way down to my collarbone. A warmth had blossomed in me, spreading all the way to my core. I wanted more, I wanted him. I recaptured his mouth with my own before pulling away and kissing the soft spot where his neck met his shoulders. I grinned as he groaned in response, a deep rumbling in the back of this throat. A sudden friction between us caused me to pause and pull back, looking into his eyes. A hunger glinted in them, one that was surely reflected in my own eyes. A question hung in his, one that he uttered with a hoarse voice:

"Annie are you ok with doing this?". I gazed steadily down at him before answering with a deep kiss. He shifted, moving us from our original position to lay me gently down upon the navy covers. He hovered over me, elbows near my head as he softly kissed my lips, my throat, lower. My hands roamed up and down his back, sliding underneath his shirt to trace the solid muscle there. A quick tug had his shirt off and on the ground, leaving my hands free to race over his shoulder blades, around to the smooth skin of his stomach. Every so often I would feel the bumps of old scars and I kissed each one I could reach. My shirt soon joined his on the floor, followed by our other various pieces of clothing, until nothing was left but skin to skin. A shudder of anticipation ran threw me, aware of the choice we were making. Percy looked down at me again, making sure I was still ok. I whispered his name as he moved over me, inside me. We flowed together on a sea of bliss, merging as one under a single thought. _I love you._

 ***Leo POV***

The giant squid didn't appreciate my sense of humour. The others were still pissing themselves with laughter as I hauled myself out onto the bank of the lake, dripping wet and covered in seaweed. I had gotten a little, non-consensual swim through the lake on the end of a tentacle, a story I believed would be hilarious looking back. At the moment, however, I was not impressed.

"COME AT ME OLD FISH GUTS! I'VE DEFEATED CREATURES BIGGER AND BETTER THAN YOU! A LITTLE WATER WON'T PHASE ME!". That was the wrong thing to say. A wave two stories tall erupted out of the lake, crashing towards me like an avenging angel descending from heaven. As a matter of fact, the only being I know to descend from heaven (or *cough* Olympus *cough*) was Eros and he sure as Hades wasn't an angel. "Aw fuck.". That was the single thought I could so eloquently express before the water bombarded me in China. Not literally, though, that would've been awesome. I could've met some of Frank's family. Anyway, back to the giant wall of water smothering me. I coughed and spluttered angrily as the water seeped away, taking a small portion of my remaining dignity with it. I swear I had never seen someone pass out from laughing but Will sure as Hades looked close to it. _I wonder who will look after the doctor if the doctor passes out? Shut up brain, focus!_ Hazel got to her feet unsteadily and led me away from the shore, uttering a small apology to the giant, grouchy bitch hiding beneath the waves.

"Damn,", I muttered, "that thing is like my Aunt Rosa after a few too many drunken nights.". Nico collapsed to the ground again at that, weeping with the force of his mirth. Gods, it was weird seeing that kid smile and laugh. Totally worth it though. "Frank, can you go down there and tell her highness to leave me the fuck alone please?". Frank and Hazel looked aghast at my language. Oops, totally forgot I travelled with old souls. I tried again, "oh dear Francis, be a good lad and request the barnacle covered hag to politely refrain from drowning poor, small Latino boys. Racism is frowned upon nowadays.". Will, Nico and Ginny were purple in the face by the time I finished speaking and were lying on each other, crying and wheezing. Harry, Ron and Hermione had picked their way down the rough path towards us and stopped dead at the scene before them: Nico, Will and Ginny on the floor holding onto each other for dear life, Frank and Hazel both wearing matching scandalised expressions, Piper gripping a tree for support, and me, standing drenched and steaming, covered in seaweed. They stood there shocked for a whole thirty seconds before deciding that it wasn't worth asking and instead, calmly sat down beside us.

"Well, you guys seem to be having fun.". Hermione's comment brought forth a new wave of laughter from the disaster gays and their new ginger.

"Leo…got…dunked…by…squid…". Nico could barely get the words out without gasping like a fish out of water. Wow, that's ironic considering the current circumstances. I glared at him and plonked myself down beside Hermione.

"It didn't seem to appreciate the genius that is moi, Leo Valdez, Bad Boy Supreme.". Hazel was the next one to snort with laughter at that. Five down, four to go.

"Bloody hell, that's amazing. Definitely more interesting than trying to remember the twelve uses of dragon blood.", Ron heaved a sigh and laid down next to a slightly recovered Ginny.

Hermione looked offended by his words, "Ron! The twelve uses of dragon blood are extremely important!", she glared at Harry and Ron, "What happens if you are doing a mission for the Aurors and stumble across a burning substance which you can't identify? And that substance just so happens to be dragon blood? What are you going to do? Dissolve to death?". Both Ron and Hermione's faces were tinged red by the end of her rant. Harry merely sighed with a bored look on his face, obviously used to arguments between the couple.

"Hey,", he sat up quickly, his face brightening with an idea, "do you guys want to go and explore Hogsmeade? It's this little wizarding village not far from here.". Everyone sat up straighter at that.

"Oh yes please!", started Piper breathlessly, "We should find Annabeth and Percy though, they would love it.". With that, the wizards split off to find McGonagall to ask for permission to go to Hogs-breed or whatever it was called, while the rest of us hiked up to the castle to find Percy and Annabeth.

 ***Percy POV***

 _Oh. My. Gods._ That was the only thought raging in my head as I lay on my back on the bed, with Annie curled up against my side, fast asleep. I looked down at her, savouring the way her face looked so peaceful, her hair curling gently against her forehead and neck. I pressed a soft kiss against her honey curls, comforted by the familiar smell of her. My heart with the amount of love I had for her, love that I had tried to express throughout the past few hours of bliss. I glanced at the clock on the table near the bed. 11.24am. _Ugh_. The others were going to start wondering where we had gotten to. I gently shook Annabeth awake, pulling her away from her peaceful dreams. She smiled sleepily up at me, making my heart beat ten times faster than usual.

"Hey seaweed brain, how long was I out?". I told her only an hour or so and suggested that we should get up and find the others. We reluctantly gathered our clothes from where they were hastily strewn across the floor. Making our way out of the wonderful room, we only turned back once, allowing us one more chance to fully devour the possibilities of our future. We had only made it partway towards the staircases before a shout echoed up to us:

"PERCY, ANNABETH!", Leo bounced up and down on the balls of his feet and turned to shout over his shoulder, "GUYS! I FOUND THEM!". He skipped the last few steps up to us and looped his arms through each of ours. "We've been looking for ages, do you know how big this castle is?".

Annabeth glanced at Leo worriedly, "Leo, is something wrong?".

"Oh no, nothing's wrong. The magicians had an idea to take us to a magician village-thingy, so we had to find you to see if you wanted to come.".

"Leo they're wizards, not magicians."

"Meh, same difference."

I had struggled to contain my laughter throughout this exchange. Due to Leo being 5'6, it painted a very hilarious scene as he dragged Annabeth and me down the hall, both of us being taller than him. Thundering footsteps announced the arrival of the others as they veered around the corner.

"Finally! Gods, where on earth were you?". Piper pushed her way to the front of the small group, planting her hands on her hips. Annabeth and I exchanged a quick glance.

"We were just wandering the halls. Lost track of time.". As always, Annabeth comes to the rescue with her quick thinking. I nod my head in agreement, trying to not let the truth seep onto my face.

"Anyway, we got permission from McGonagall so we can leave now if you're ready.". Hermione had her hand intertwined threw Ron's and had found a large jacket and scarf to fight the cold. It seemed that even after all these years, she still wasn't used to the weather.

Leo and Piper danced around happily, doing a slight jig at the thought of a wizarding village. Surprisingly, the only one who looked unsure was Will. He had a tense arm wrapped around Nico's shoulders and wasn't smiling. I sent him a questioning look and he just shook his head, sending a look that could be interpreted as _I'll explain later._ The ten of us followed Leo and Piper as they skipped down the halls, singing off-key to some random song.

After nearly half-an-hour walking, the outline of houses and stores finally appeared between the trees, causing Leo to emit a grateful sigh.

"Thank the gods, I'm not sure how much longer I could have walked without accidently setting something on fire.".

"Leo stop whinging. It was you who decided to take a trip through the forest instead of following the path!". Nico glowered at the other boy's brown curls, aggravation radiating off his small figure in waves. Leo simply spun around and stuck his tongue out in response, dodging to miss the punch thrown his way. The past half-hour had been full of strange, curious creatures (including Leo), unknown smells and sounds (courtesy of Leo), and a horrible race through the trees to avoid a deadly swarm of bees (courtesy of Frank this time actually, although Leo started it). Let's just say that by the time we exited the forest and smelt the savoury wafts of fresh food, I was near collapsing from starvation.

"Foooooood.". The others chuckled at the loud grumbling sound my stomach made in response. Our first proper view of Hogsmeade revealed cute lines of houses on either side of a dirt road which led to a small cluster of shops. Various noises and lights blared out of a shop near the end – Zonks, Zankos, Zonko's? My dyslexia had a fit as it took in the various signs covered in flowing letters and runes. My feet led me forwards, following the delicious smell hovering in the air. The others followed as I entered a pub and was greeted by a smiling woman in sparkly shoes.

"Harry it's such a pleasure to see you!". The sparkly shoed lady ushered us into a large booth and set about ordering our drinks. The wizards all ordered things called Butterbeer, so the rest of us follows suit.

"That was Rosmerta, she owns the pub and the inn. She was a friend of Dumbledore's.". I looked around and noticed that the tables near us had quieted down at Harry's words, actually no, at his presence.

"Harry,", Annabeth had also picked up the anomaly, "why is everyone staring at you?".

Hermione was the one who answered. "It's because of the war.". A lightbulb lit in my head as I remembered what they had told us. "After Harry defeated Voldemort he became even more famous than he already was.". She glanced around, watching as the many eyes followed her progress.

Annabeth followed her gaze. "It's not just him, you know. They're looking at the three of you. And us actually.". it was true, various heads strained to look at the trio, each of whom was trying their hardest to sink as low into their seats as possible. Whenever I caught someone's eye, they turned away quickly and drank whatever was in front of them.

It was only when our drinks arrived that I realised something. "Wait, most of us aren't of age, are we still allowed to drink this?", I indicated towards the glass of foam-covered amber liquid in my hand.

Ron nodded slowly, avoiding the piercing gazes of the people around us. "It's not actually that alcoholic, that's why the let the students drink it. Although,", he glanced at Hermione slyly, "someone we know tends to get a bit tipsy after one too many.". As the others burst into laughter, Hermione's cheeks flushed bright pink at whatever memory flitted through her head. Will looked around the pub and his face morphed into an angry scowl. Nico looked at him in confusion as he suddenly stood up and shouted for all to hear:

"OI! We understand that they're famous and we're new but you've all looked your plenty so mind your own goddamn business!". He let a sharp breath out through his nose and grabbed his tankard, downing the rest of the drink in one go. We all stared shell-shocked at him, our mouths dropping open when he kicked his seat back and marched towards the door, angrily shoving them open. We all stayed like that a heartbeat before Nico jumped up and hurried after his boyfriend, throwing a concerned look in our direction. The wizards looked at us in confusion but we all glanced helplessly back. _What is going on?_

 ***Will POV***

 _Stupid people, stupid snow, stupid anger_. I don't know why I was suddenly so angry but I knew I needed to get away from the rest of them as soon as possible. I had barely made it halfway down the street before I heard someone call my name.

"Will!", I kept walking. "WILL! WILLIAM!", Nico roughly grabbed my arms and drew me off the road into the bordering forest. "Will look at me. What on earth is wrong with you, right now?". I still couldn't look him in the eye. I didn't want to admit what was really bothering me, what had been bothering me since we were taken. "Will, please. Talk to me.". The concern in his voice finally made me look up and into his dark eyes, glittering slightly in the sunlight flowing through the trees around us. "Will what's wrong?", he repeated, gently taking my face in his hands.

"I just this all to be over.". The moment the words left my mouth, a dam seemed to burst within me. Words came tumbling out and I was afraid that Nico wouldn't understand what I was trying to say. "I'm so sick of being thrown into different situations with no warning and no assistance. One minute, we're finally able to mourn our friend. The next, we're teleported halfway around the world to an unknown magical school and expected to just be _fine_ with it?", my voice had taken on a hysterical tone as I disconnected myself from Nico and moved around, waving my hands for emphasis, "Then you, Percy and I are kidnapped, having to fight our way free, only to find out that our _teacher_ was stalking us. What the fuck man! I was so worried about you, I had no idea what they did to give you those wounds but I know they still hurt, even when you say they don't.", Nico flinched slightly in shame and unconsciously rubbed a hand over his chest, "And don't even get me started the people in the pub. I have half a mind to go back there and whistle loud enough to make them all deaf, but of course, I can't hurt people because I'm the _good_ doctor. The one that always has to be fine with everything that is going on, even when people I love get hurt. I'm not ok with you being kidnapped, I want to go find Odysseus and wring his fucking neck. But I need to stay calm like everyone else, knowing we'll never a break, we'll never get to be like everyone else – normal!". I finished my rant with heaving breaths, leaning up against a tree and putting my head in my hands. Nico walked to me slowly from where he had been frozen and pulled me into a tight embrace. He grabbed my face in his hands again and gave me a long, slow kiss.

"Will, I understand how you're feeling. Please don't feel like you can't talk to me about this stuff.", he smiled slightly and I could feel my lips lifting in response, "When we get back to the castle we're going to do something that will make you feel better."

"What?"

"We're going to find Odysseus and demand some answers."


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N - I feel like I apologise for the lateness of every chapter - truth is I do! To make up for this, I will upload two (hopefully three) chapters as I am about to start school again. Now on a side note, some people have mentioned that it would be unlikely that they would all be in Gryffindor, well, I agree. I put them all in Gryffindor because, as lazy as it sounds, it's easier to write about one common room instead of four and discussions with the Golden Trio are easier. So, I'm sorry if people don't like that, you can get over it and choose to like the story or not. Another thing, it may seem to be slow but I promise that more action will be coming now, however, I really do like writing (and reading) scenes that revolve around everyday activities such as lessons and study times (AND HALLOWEEN AND CHRISTMAS!). So please enjoy!**

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 **Chapter Twelve – The Interrogation**

 ***Nico POV***

"Come on buddy, all you have to do is answer the question." I'll admit, Will can sometimes be extremely terrifying when he wants to. He's all blond surfer dude one minute and the next, bam! Bad cop. I thought I would be the bad cop, but Mr Sunshine over here beat me to it.

We had found Odysseus pretty easily actually. A giant troll standing guard outside a door down a forbidden corridor pretty much screams 'PRISONER HERE!'. The troll hadn't had any time to react before Will had looked it up and down and then viciously wacked it on a soft spot under its neck. Like I said – scary. Will now stood leaning over Odysseus, bracing his arms on the side of the chair which Odysseus was restrained in. "Honestly, this will just be all the more painful for you than me." Will continued to smirk down at Odysseus which was a truly unnerving sight. Odysseus, on the other hand, seemed unaffected by Will's cold demeanour and remained silent. Will pulled away from him slowly and glanced over at shoulder at me, his eyes seeming to say, ' _your turn'_.

I stepped forward out of the shadows and into the bright circle illuminated by the glowing sphere above Odysseus' head. _Lumos Maxima, handy spell_. Odysseus glared at me from beneath his mop of light brown hair, his black eyes glinting cruelly in the harsh light. "How come you aren't dead?" The question hung from the air, seeping into the silence. Odysseus appeared to contemplate the question before deeming it suitable to answer.

"Well," he said with a sneer, "I would have thought you had already figured it out, considering you have a daughter of Athena who can't mind her own business." His sneer deepened as Will and I glanced at each other. "Yes, I do know about the theft of my journal. I wonder what the other teachers will think when they find out that the exchange students have been stealing, from teachers as well?"

"I wonder what the other teachers will think when they find out that you have been kidnapping students?" Will shot back furiously. I placed a gentle hand on his arm and drew him back from Odysseus.

"Does Professor McGonagall know who you are? By now the others have told her all about your little escapade with us and I'm sure it will be a greatly amusing sight when she finally gets her hands on you. Kidnapping and harassment of students – Will how many years in prison do you think that warrants?" Will smiled at me with a mock thoughtful expression on his face.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe ten or fifteen. Don't these wizards have a magical prison of their own, Azkaban I think?" He continued to smile as he paced around the room as graceful as a cat.

"Yes, I remember that now. They have the demotors, no, demters? Ah, that's right," I looked Odysseus directly in the eye as I continued, "dementors, the ones who suck out someone's soul if they happen to get _just_ too close." Odysseus' face had paled at the mention of the dementors, it seemed that even child-stealing zombies were afraid of getting their souls sucked out during a kiss. Despite this, his face settled quickly back into a disdainful sneer.

"Surely you don't need me to spell it out for you. I'll give you a hint: I've been back for nearly a year, and apparently, I'm not the only one who went unnoticed. How's your lovely sister doing Nico?" Odysseus gasped as my hand closed around his throat, cutting off the flow of air. His mouth split into a mocking smile, one that grew larger when Will ripped me off of him.

"Nico, it's ok, breath, calm down." Well, there goes my good cop status. I leant back into Will's chest, breathing deeply. Odysseus' words had brought forth a torrent of memories: the floor of an enclosed jar littered with pomegranate seeds; the giant statute rushing towards the mouth of a volcano; Hazel's gold eyes filled with worry; the crowd at Camp Jupiter gathered around the plane which had just landed, or more specifically, the coffin at its base.

"You escaped through the Doors of Death when Gaia was attempting to wake." The words were dull, monotonous. Will held my hand tightly as he studied my face discretely.

Odysseus smiled for real this time. "Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!" He beamed at our expressionless faces. "Yes, while Thanatos was unfortunately chained up in Canada I decided to take a slight stroll out of the Doors. Who knew that the sunlight could feel so good?"

Will stared at Odysseus in confusion, "Why did you want to leave? You were remembered as a hero, surely you ended up in Elysium?" Odysseus' face soured as if he had just taken a bite from a lemon.

"Well, I _was_ in Elysium, but apparently my travels were less heroic than was originally thought. One day, Hades simply strolled through the gates and led me out to the Fields of Asphodel where I wandered for centuries. It seems they still wanted me to torment me, as I never faded away or forgot who I was. I meandered through the fields for years, watching as new souls appeared and old ones faded into oblivion." He glared at me from beneath hooded eyelids, "I even saw you come and collect your sister, such a touching moment. Anyway, when the first rumblings of unease swept through the Underworld, I went to investigate. And oh boy, did I meet some interesting creatures. I learnt all about Percy Jackson and his nuisance friends, all about Nico Di Angelo, the Ghost King. So, when the opportunity arose, I simply stepped out and emerged into the new world. Only this time, I wanted nothing to do with the gods. I travelled to England and stumbled upon this place, got a job and then met all of you." Odysseus leant back in his seat, watching us as we sorted through his story.

I tugged Will back into the corner, keeping one eye on Odysseus as I asked, "That explains how he's alive but it doesn't explain why he kidnapped us." Will tapped his chin with one finger in thought.

"Maybe he was worried that we had recognised him and that you would report him to Thanatos? And when we stole his journal, it only confirmed his suspicions."

"But why take Percy and you as well, why not just grab me and go?"

Will's eyes went hazy as he tried to remember the night we were taken. "I honestly don't know, maybe we woke up or were near by and it was easier to grab all of us then leave us to tell the others earlier?"

I stalked back to the wooden chair and fixed Odysseus with a harsh stare. "Why did you grab all three of us? If you were worried about Thanatos finding you, you could have grabbed me alone."

Odysseus huffed a shallow laugh. "I knew you would be a problem and you're right, I didn't want Thanatos to find me. However, I knew that if I took you, your boyfriend would tear the school apart looking for you. It was easier to grab him as well."

I waited for him to continue and raised an eyebrow when he didn't. "And Percy? Why grab him?"

"I had heard so much about the infamous _Percy Jackson_ that I wanted to see what he was really made of." Odysseus spat, his famous sneer making another appearance, "To be truthful, I'm actually slightly disappointed, not worth meeting really." He tilted his head slightly, teeth flashing in the light.

I smirked slightly and tilted my head in return, "I can't wait until Percy hears that, he's a bit sensitive about people not wanting to meet him." I was about to continue questioning him when I felt Will softly grab my arm. I shot him a curious glance, "What's wrong?"

He kept his hold on my arm and whispered with a slight smile on his face, "Listen." I focused on the hallway outside and heard the unmistakable sounds of multiple feet pounding across the stone floors.

I turned back to Odysseus with a wry smile on my face. "Well, it looks like our time has run out. I'll be sure to rate the effectiveness of our experience. We'll be seeing you never." Will stepped up behind me.

"Yep, don't bother to call."

"Postcards are not welcome."

"Maybe we'll tell Cerberus that he has a new play toy coming soon, I'm sure he'll like that." Will and I wore matching smirks as we patiently waited for the elephants to reach our room.

The heavy, wooden door burst open and the arrivals tumbled in chaotically. Three bodies fell to the floor with loud thumps. Professor McGonagall calmly stepped over Percy, Leo and Ron's scrambling limbs and stalked towards us, her eyebrows raised. She examined Odysseus' bound figure and then our smirking faces, before nodding slightly to herself.

"It seems that Mr Di Angelo and Mr Solace have everything under control here." The others wore identical expressions of confusion and continuously looked between Will and me and Odysseus. "Come now students, let's not waste any more time with this prisoner. Dinner will be starting soon and I expect all of you to be present." The Professor turned smoothly on her heel and strode out of the damp room, leading the way towards the Great Hall with Will and I following quickly.

Percy jogged up to us and grabbed my arm. "Hey, what happened in there? Did you get any answers?" I carefully extricated my arm out of his grip and turned towards the others. Will and I concisely explained our interaction with Odysseus, skimming over the details of my loss of control. The others listened with open-mouths and Percy looked mildly offended by Odysseus' opinion of him.

We reached the clamour of the Great Hall and our conversations were cut short. Professor McGonagall was waiting for us at the doors and swept past once we entered. The wizard trio led the way to our usual seats at the Gryffindor and ushered us to sit down quickly. Professor McGonagall had made her way to the teacher's table and stood straight-backed behind the wooden owl podium. The whispers around the hall were quickly snuffed out when she cleared her throat for attention.

"I'm sure most of you have heard by now that three of your fellow students were kidnapped three days ago. They have since been found and are unhurt but I do ask you to refrain from asking them about their experience." She paused, her eyes sweeping over the silent students, resting on Percy, Will and I for a moment. "It is only fair that you are made aware of who was responsible for this atrocity. It seems that Professor Ody was not who we believed he was. He kidnapped those students and attempted to fight back against the rescue party. He is now being held in a secure location and is awaiting a trial with the ministry." Mutterings had erupted at the mention of Odysseus' name and Professor McGonagall calmly waited for them to abate before continuing. "If anyone notices anything strange or out-of-the-usual, report it immediately to a teacher. I do not believe that Professor Ody had help but I would advise everyone to be on alert if that is not the case. Now, announcements are over, enjoy the meal!" At her words, the four house tables filled with glorious food and drink, the scents wafting enticingly towards me and making me realise how hungry I actually was. Before anyone could bring up any more bad news and ruin my night, I dug into the food greedily and ate away my problems.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N - I am so sorry about such a late upload, I will try to get better (but track record says otherwise). This is part one of a chapter, it would've been too long to write altogether and truthfully, it's too late atm. I will try to get the other half up soon, I promiseeeee.**

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 **Chapter Thirteen – The Guests**

 ***Percy POV***

Truthfully, I was still confused about everything that happened with Odysseus. So, he escaped through the Doors of Death – ok that's easy; he went to England to escape the gods– not my first choice but reasoning is understandable; then he decided to join a bunch of magicians waving sticks – ok, again not my first choice but you do you boo; then he kidnapped me and was disappointed - ? what ?. That's where you lose me. How could he possibly be disappointed by the mental train wreck which is moi, the one and only Perseus motherfucking Jackson?

Annabeth said that I needed to be less offended when people didn't like me, apparently, lots of people don't like me? Well, I got over that pretty quickly, as did the whole school it seemed. Rumours and stories about our disappearance and Professor Ody ignited around the school like a wildfire but died out just as quickly. Two weeks had passed since everything happened and now all the talk was about the upcoming Halloween feast, one that was apparently to die for (according to Nearly Headless Nick who actually _had_ died on Halloween, poor fellow).

Two days remained until Halloween and the school was already getting a makeover. Filch was seen limping through the halls half-heartedly dusting windowsills and adjusting tapestries. The chandeliers were cleaned and the paintings were freshly scrubbed. Lucky for us, the 31st was a Friday, which meant that the Gryffindors were planning a colossal party. Apparently, after the battle last year, Professor McGonagall had allowed parties to occur without disruption, even going so far as telling the various entrances to allow access to students from all the houses.

As I walked down the stairs into the common room, I bumped into Neville, who had his arms full of a variety of exotic looking plants. "Woah, do you need some help with those dude? Where are you off to?" He glanced gratefully at me as I relieved him of a few of the precariously placed pots.

"Thanks, Percy. I was on my way to the Herbology greenhouses, Professor Sprout has been asking about the plants I brought to school and offered to let them stay where they could be easily looked after." Our odd-looking duo quickly trotted down the halls and onto the grounds, heading towards the large glass structures in the Eastern corner.

"That was nice of her, I guess." I readjusted one particularly prickly plant and hurried forward, "Say, Neville, what should I expect from this Halloween party? Should I be worried." Neville's laugh puffed out in a white cloud as he shook his head slightly.

"No, you shouldn't worry. Ever since the Weasley twins left the parties have been slightly tamer. Although, having the other houses there will be a new experience, as well as the eighth years. I heard that Ron was trying to contact George to see if he wanted to help set up. I don't know if he will get a reply though, considering what happened last year and everything." Neville's nose had turned pink from the biting wind. He sniffed slightly as his eyes turned glassy, remembering a darker time. I was afraid to ask but my curiosity got the better of me?

"What happened last year? Do you mean the war?" Almost immediately I regretted asking. Neville slowed to a stop and stared at me sadly, snowflakes landing on his brown hair.

"George lost his twin, Fred, during the fight. None of the Weasleys have really been the same since. The twins were pranksters, they were practically famous at school it, right up there with the Marauders. But after Fred's death, George has been very reclusive, only going out to run the joke shop they set up." Neville stared at me a moment longer and then continued walking. I remained silent, thinking about Pollux and what Castor's death had done to him.

"I know someone who lost their twin during a battle, so I can kinda understand what George is feeling. Doesn't make it any better though." Neville looked at me suspiciously. _Shit, we haven't told him._ I quickly explained who I really was, expecting Neville to run away in horror. Instead, he simply nodded his head in acceptance.

"I knew there was something different about you exchange students. People may say I'm oblivious, but war changes you. Do Harry and the others know?" I stared at him in shock for a minute until my mouth started working again.

"Uhh yeah, Hermione's my sister." Now Neville looked surprised.

"Sister, wow. Is she…I mean…Is she, like you?" I shook my head at his question and he nodded again before pushing open the greenhouse door and covering us in an explosion of warm air. "That's cool. You guys are actually pretty decent. Truthfully, you seemed a bit intimidating at first but then everyone saw you fall over on the way to class and your friends laughing and we all sort of understood that you were just teens like us. Although now I understand that you too have seen your far share of violence and trauma." I laughed loudly at the statement and moved further into the deliciously warm greenhouse.

"Ah, Mr Longbottom, there you are. Oh, these are lovely specimens." Professor Sprout extricated herself roughly from a large plant with tentacle-like vines which had wrapped themselves around her large hat and in her shock of hair. "And Mr Jackson, how nice to see you in one piece, especially after the whole incident with Professor Ody." I hadn't been in Herbology, or any normal classes, for the past two weeks because Professor McGonagall thought it would be important for all the demigods to catch up on some of the _simpler_ lessons.

I must say, I was _slightly_ offended that she didn't think we could keep up. It's not like we were really paying before we were kidnapped and we still did fine. Ok, I see her point I guess. On the other hand, Annabeth nearly bursts into tears every time a new book is placed in front of her, I've never seen her happier. Wow, that's quite sad, actually.

I snapped back to attention, realising I had missed most of the interaction between Neville and Professor Electric-Shock. As they were still talking about the "absolutely _astounding_ quality of the fibres in the leaves", I decided it would be an okay time to claim I had to be somewhere.

"Soooo, I actually promised Annabeth I would go study with her in the library." Silence. "Yep, ok, I'm going to go do that. Have fun with your plants." Neville simply waved me away, muttering a quick thank you at my help. I nodded in return (one that, may I say, was _ignored_ ) and shuffled out the door, ducking under the scary spiked plant which twitched like a cat waiting to pounce.

I hurried back across the grounds, diving quickly into the lake to scrub off the smell of fertiliser. I waved to a few disgruntled fish and shot back out onto the shore, shaking non-existent droplets out of my hair. I didn't meet any other unusually burdened teenagers on my job back to the common room. Despite the fact that I was probably as fit as an eighteen-year-old could be, even I was wheezing slightly by the time I reached the top of the seventh floor. I leant against the wall adjacent to the portrait of the Fat Lady to catch my breath.

"Not so fit now after all those feasts, are you?" A slight chuckled echoed after the high-pitched comment. I eased off the wall and stood in front of the portrait hole, crossing my arms.

"I am plenty fit, thank you. I would like to see you run across the castle grounds and up seven flights of stairs without getting puffed." I smirked at the outraged expression on the painting's face. She only huffed and flew open quickly, my reflexes being the only thing keeping me from getting punted by a painting back down the stairs. "Rude," I muttered as I stalked inside the common room, spotting my increasing group of friends in the far corner next to the fire.

"Yo Perce, where were you, dude? We've been waiting for ages." Leo waved me over when he saw me, shuffling across the couch to let me sit next to Annabeth. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and quickly explained my trip to the greenhouses, leaving out the bit about Ron's brother.

"Anyway, why were you waiting for me?"

Frank stretched his arms over his head as he roughly replied, "We've been trying to figure out how we would help plan the Halloween party. Apparently the seventh years, and in our case, the eight years, have to plan it – which unfortunately means us as well."

"Aw cheer up Frank," Leo's eyes glimmered mischievously as he fiddled with a new invention, courtesy of his toolbelt, "I plan to end this party with a bang. When we were last in Hogsmeade, I saw an advertisement for Weasley Wizard Wheezes and intend to get some equipment from there." A large smile appeared on Leo's face and the others and I cringed silently at the possibilities. I glanced over at Ron and saw his face pale and his eyes shutter. Leo, on the other hand, didn't notice anything wrong and powered on with his ideas. "I think if I get some of those fireworks I saw and hooked them up to a motor I could make some pretty impressive explosions. Say, Ron, do you know who runs it, is it a family member?" I tried to subtly shake my head at Leo but considering that Annabeth sat between us, it was fruitless. The others turned to Ron, curiosity lining their faces. To his credit, Ron didn't back away. He took a deep breath, squeezing slightly the hand which Hermione had slid into his.

"Yeah actually, um, my older brother George runs it. He and…and Fred founded it." My face must've reflected my sympathy because Piper's eyes gleamed with understanding and she lightly hit Leo, shaking her head slightly to stop him from asking anything else. Ron's sorrow-ridden eyes met my gaze and seemed to harden at the empathy in them. He chin dipped down in recognition of similar hardships. He looked towards Hermione and returned her sad smile, then turned to us and uttered, "Fred was killed in the war last year." He turned to Leo, "When you go to the shop, I'll come. It's been a while since I've checked on George." Leo nodded in return, regret and horror evident on his face due to his unaware questioning.

Piper's eyes shone brightly as she moved closer to Ron and placed a gentle hand upon his. "A few weeks ago, a close friend of ours, a _really_ close friend of ours, was killed." A tear spilt out of her eye and began to slide down her cheek. "He used to be my boyfriend and even though he was still hurting, he came to help me when I needed it. He saved our lives and lost his in return." She inhaled a shuddering breath. "Before we arrived here, we were at his funeral. I guess what I'm trying to say is that we understand and that we will be there for you if you need it. It's always hard when someone you love dies, something we are all too well acquainted with, unfortunately."

Silence followed after Piper finished speaking, tears gleaming in more than one set of eyes. Ron nodded gratefully at her and the rest of us. My eyes drifted to Leo and Nico opposite him. Leo was staring down at his shaking hands, one of his fingers absentmindedly tapping a constant pattern on his knee. Nico, on the other hand, wasn't moving, his eyes totally blank. He was looking at Hazel without seeming to actually see her. My chest tightened as those blank eyes turned towards me, the guilt and despair churning beneath. My own guilt flowed through me as a green cap and dark eyes flitted across my memory. I mouthed two words across to him: _I'm sorry_. He merely shook his head, telling me it was in the past and turned back to Will, laying his head on the other boy's shoulder.

I found Annabeth's eyes on me as I focused back on the quiet conversation that had commenced. I gave her a tired smile and pulled her closer. Considering the loss that all of us had endured, we deserved to have a quiet moment to just enjoy everyone's presence.

So obviously, we got the exact opposite.

 ***Frank POV***

"What?" I definitely heard wrong. No doubt. I just imagined it.

"A giant black hound." Nope, didn't imagine it. Ginny's face was flushed the same colour as her hair as she heaved for breath. "I saw it! On the grounds!" She leant against Harry, struggling to get the rest of the story out. I was about to ask if she wanted to sit down when she huffed, "and there were two girls on its back!". Her story complete, she sank deeper into an armchair and continued to catch her breath. I twisted towards Percy, my eyes wide in disbelief.

"Giant black hound." Was all he said.

"Two girls. Two absolutely crazy girls." The other's faces lit up with recognition, Nico muttered a quick ' _no'_ under his breath.

Percy continued to look at me. "We need to find them before they burn this place down."

"Agreed"

Percy and I left the wizards in a torrent of confusion as we raced out through the halls, the other demigods on our heels. Nico's face was screwed up in concentration and he seemed ready to shadow travel to the grounds. Will threw him a warning look and grabbed his hand, stopping him from disappearing into the shadows. He got a glare in return.

For some reason, instead of heading towards the Entrance Hall, Percy was heading towards the East Wing, more specifically, the large windows situated over the lake. Annabeth figured out what he was going to do a second before I did and screamed his name from the back of the group, rushing forward in an attempt to stop him. He simply got out Riptide and uncapped it, before hurling it with all his might at the windows as soon as he got in range. The sword smashed through the glass, followed quickly by Percy who jumped down, diving towards the icy lake. The others screamed as he plummeted but I hardly stopped to look, I leapt through the hole after him and transferred into a falcon, gliding smoothly over the dark shape flowing under the waves. I could hear the shouts of the other demigods and students, particularly Annabeth swearing at the top of her lungs. I turned my head back quickly and saw them turn around and race back down the hall, heading towards the Entrance Hall. I turned my attention back to the situation at hand: a large crowd surrounding a small circle of teachers, who in turn, were circled around two figures standing back to back, weapons drawn. With my falcon senses, I could detect the electric blue of Thalia's eyes and the dark shadow of Reyna's tattoo, along with their snarling and shouted threats. I sped up my pace and swooped down over the onlookers, ignoring their gasps as I shifted back to myself besides the girls and their screams as Percy catapulted over their heads on a large wave, before landing gracefully next to us.

Professor McGonagall started at the sight of us and demanded: "What on EARTH is going on here?!" Percy ignored her and jumped on top of the hellhound with a cry of 'MRS O'LEARY!', much to her delight. I turned to Professor McGonagall and quietly muttered so only the teachers could hear:

"They're friends of ours from back home. They must've been looking for us when Mrs O'Leary found us." I glanced at the giant hellhound who was currently smothering Percy with slobbery kisses and gestured to Thalia and Reyna to lower their weapons and join the conversation. The other students were preoccupied with Percy and Mrs O'Leary so I talked freely. "How did you get through the wards?"

Reyna's dark eyes locked on mine as she waved a hand towards the oversized puppy. "Thalia and I were demanding answers from Chiron when suddenly Percy's pet appeared and started whining. We hopped on her and wound up here, only to be ambushed by these weird people waving sticks." She sent a deadly glare in the direction of the gawking students but snapped back to attention as I asked:

"Why were you at Camp? Why weren't you with the Legion? And Thalia, why weren't you with the Hunters?" I scrunched my face up in confusion, ignoring the warm tongue that ran down my hand. Percy entertained himself by getting Mrs O'Leary to suddenly appear near random groups of students and reappear next to him.

Thalia scoffed at his childishness and replied matter-of-factly. "Well, surely you didn't expect us to do nothing when you guys suddenly vanished from Jason's funeral without a trace? We've been looking for you for weeks, the camps and the Hunters. We tried to IM you but the communications are still hazy, Apollo's still dealing with his tasks or whatever. Sally and Paul are nearly out of their minds with worry, they would've been helping us but they couldn't leave Estelle alone. Even Annabeth's cousin has been trying to help us."

At the mention of his family, Percy wrenched his attention from his dog. However, before he could question more, a loud voice roared over the mutters of the students. "PERSEUS JACKSON!"

Percy flinched. "Ok, I'm officially dead this time." The poor guy had the audacity to grin as Annabeth struggled through the crowd with flames in her eyes.

Thalia whistled slightly. "Geeze Percy, what did you do this time?"

Percy rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I may have jumped out of a window into the lake."

"Percy!" Thalia's eyebrow was raised in amusement.

"What?" Percy replied indignantly, "Frank did it too!"

"Dude don't bring me into it, I can shapeshift."

"Please, I've fallen into worse than that." An uneasy silence followed his joke, none of us wanting to bring up those bad memories. Luckily, our attention was soon ripped away by the murderous Annabeth who had made it through the clump of students and the line of teachers, grabbed hold of Percy's collar and flung him over her shoulder onto the ground. The breath visibly left him as he put a knee on his chest and hissed something too low for the rest of us to hear. I winched in sympathy for the guy and when I looked up again, cold fear ran through my body at the cold fury in Hazel's golden eyes. The others had made their way into our little group and Hazel was shaking with barely controlled rage.

I took her hand lightly and whispered, "I'm sorry, next time I'll warn you before I do something crazy like that." The fury in her arms melted and she jumped into my arms, squeezing me tightly before turned towards Reyna and Thalia with a bright smile. All pleasantries were forgotten as she gathered the both of them into her small arms and hugged them tightly.

Professor McGonagall seemed to understand that this reunion was going to take a while and ordered the other teachers to lead the students back into the castle for dinner. As the crowd dispersed, Reyna repeated to the others what Thalia had explained to me. We stood there for a while, telling our own stories regarding what had happened and catching up. At one point, I saw Reyna draw Nico in for a hug and couldn't help but smile as the younger boy gripped her tightly. He had grown in the last few months and now stood nearly as tall as her. As I was turning back to the other conversation, I saw Leo standing apart from the others. He wasn't smiling or joking around and a quick look at his downcast expression sent me walking slowly towards him. I had never been the best with people but he looked like he was in the need of something, no matter how small.

"Hey dude, everything ok?" I leant up against the tree next to the one he was slouching on and watched other others talking and laughing.

He sighed deeply before replying softly, "It's just odd, seeing Thalia and not Jason. They have the same eyes and for a second, in all the confusion, I could have sworn it was him. Also, it's really bumming me out that Calypso isn't here and I can't contact her. I just want to know that she's ok." Leo kept fidgeting with items from his tool belt, assembling and disassembling piece after piece.

I wasn't sure how to approach what he said, so I simply just let words fall out. "I know what you mean, I still find it hard to believe as well. I'm worried sick about our other friends and everyone's parents, those who don't know what happened to their children. What we need to do though is stay strong. Everyone relies on you whether you know it or not – you're the mechanic of this group, if you give up, we all stop working." I sent a small smile in his direction, "It's ok to be hurting, to not be ok. I was the same after the mother and grandmother's deaths. But we all have your back. Right now, all we need to do is wait out whatever we are here for. Who knows when we'll get to go home, but I have a feeling that we're going to be needed here, and soon." I focused on the others again: Hazel, laughing animatedly with Reyna, Piper, Nico and Will; Percy and Annabeth sitting cross-legged opposite Thalia, watching her gesture wildly. "Look, Leo, our lives were never meant to be easy, and if I'm being honest, you have had to deal with a lot that we haven't, so the fact that you are still able to laugh and joke is impressive." I turned to look him in his eyes. They had previously been dark and empty, now, however, a small spark seemed to light inside them. "Don't give up on us and don't give up on yourself. Now come on, we have a hellhound to feed."

 ***Leo's POV***

Frank's pep-talk, as odd and endearing as it was, really helped me feel better. After we re-joined the conversations we headed back up to the Entrance Hall. Dinner had finished a while ago, however, Professors McGonagall and Flitwick were waiting for us just inside the Great Hall.

Professor McGonagall's lips were locked in a thin line and her eyes gleamed with a look I commonly received from teachers: disapproval. "Well students, the other teachers and I have discussed the issue at hand and we believe it would be best if it was dealt with tomorrow. In the meantime, please escort our guests back to your common rooms, they will be staying in the girl's room tonight. You may all be excused from class tomorrow to come to my office so we may discuss this further." She turned her vulture gaze on each other us disapprovingly, Reyna even looked slightly guilty about destroying countless unknown, unimportant rules. McGonagall's lips loosened somewhat into something that could potentially have resembled a slight smile. "For now, however, I do not have an issue with them staying for the feast tomorrow night and any _other_ activities that may be taking place." Yep, she was definitely smiling at us, that's bad.

We all started to hurry off back to our common room when Professor McGonagall's voice stopped us once again. "Mr Valdez." The others turned to look at me with matching ' _what did you do?'_ expressions. I shook my head at them, indicating that I had no idea what I had done. As far as I could recall, the toilet I had rigged up to explode last week still hadn't activated, and other than that I had been a bit busy with, you know, _school_.

I waved my friends off and walked back to Professor McGonagall. Her face was grave as she looked down at me behind her square spectacles. "So, Professor M, did I do something wrong?" Her face tightened at my words but to my surprise, she didn't chastise me. Instead, she said something that made my heart freeze in my chest.

"You need to come with me. Your father's here."


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N - I'm back (finally). Please enjoy, more will come before the holidays are over. A new problem so this story isn't ending anytime soon!**

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 **Chapter Fourteen – The News**

 ***Leo's POV***

"My father!" The words bounced down the stone hallway, more a statement than a question. Professor McGonagall's eyebrows loosened slightly as she looked down at me. Hazel glanced back quickly, having heard the echo of my exclamation, with surprise etched upon her face. I shook my head at her quickly and turned my attention back to Professor McGonagall. "Did he say anything? Preferably about why he was here of all places?"

"Unfortunately, no, Mr Valdez. He requested to see you and said he would wait in my office for our return." She paused and sent a pointed glance at the few students milling around the Entrance Hall, attempting to eavesdrop on our conversation. They started and made their way hastily towards their various common rooms. She directed her gaze upon me again, lips tightening further into a thin line. "I must ask, you mentioned once before that your father was Hephaestus, the Greek god. Was this a joke or true?"

"Ma'am, unfortunately, that was the truth. I am indeed destined for difficulty." I sighed and stared off towards the general direction of the Headmistress's office. "Alright then, better to rip this Band-Aid off quickly and limit my suffering." With that, I led the way to my perpetually absent father.

"Now don't get me wrong, I usually love family gatherings. However, what the Hades are you doing here?" I stood facing my dad, arms crossed over my chest, trying to make myself look tougher like Frank than like my natural beanstalk disposition. Hephaestus' lumpy face turned various shades of red and purple as he absentmindedly fiddled with small pieces of metal, creating and dismantling devices of every shape and size. I had the same habit, one that usually annoyed anyone within a few feet of me. Thanks, dad.

"I had to speak with you and this was the easiest way to do it." Was his gruff response. I waited for him to continue and leant against the door, indicating that I was ready to walk out at any moment. Professor McGonagall had left us the room, so our only company were the multiple portraits of the dead headmasters hanging haphazardly on the light walls. Hephaestus took a deep, rattling breath and met my eyes with his uneven ones. "There's been trouble on Olympus, boy. Poseidon got angry after the disappearance of Percy and Zeus refused to let him look for him. Apparently, the boy's mother has been annoying the bellhop, trying to get to Olympus." He paused and looked moodily around the room, "Poseidon and Zeus fought and Zeus decided to close off Olympus again, not letting anyone in or out. Athena and Aphrodite are angry at Zeus because they also want to look for their daughters. Apollo is still MIA and Hades' anger is causing Los Angeles to suffer through a heat wave. I don't know much about the Romans' parents but Ares seems to be grumpier than usual." Hephaestus seemed to have said all he wanted to about that issue and settled back into the too-small chair next to the large wooden desk.

"Well, why are you here then? If Olympus has been closed off?" I didn't mean for the question to sound as harsh as it did but truthfully, I was slightly annoyed that my father decided to drop in just to tell me about the weather and some godly problems.

His face turned an even deeper shade of plum and he straightened, scrunching his misshapen features in annoyance. "I wasn't in Olympus when that happened, so I am free to move around wherever I please. I managed to find where you all had landed so I decided to come here to see if everything was ok." He turned his face away from me and muttered quietly, "I may be absent but I do actually care what happens to my children." I stood there in shock for a good two minutes, long enough that my dad's face turned bright red and he mumbled something about defective humans.

"I, um, didn't think of that. Thanks for checking up on me, er, us." I rubbed the back of my neck slowly and looked anywhere but my dad's face. "Can you tell us how we got here? One minute we were at Camp Jupiter and the next we were surrounded by weirdos in cloaks, no offence Misters." I directed my last comment to the hanging pictures, nodding at the greasy, sneering one directly behind the desk.

"I don't know much aside from that there was a large expulsion of energy the day you disappeared. It had some demigod essence to it but it was old, very, very old. It only happened for a second, yet it was powerful." I closed my eyes to think better. Could that energy have been from Odysseus? He said that he wanted to meet Percy but why would he transport all of us here? I repeated the events of the past few weeks to my father and voiced the questions bouncing around my head. He was just as perplexed as I was, apparently the energy and skill required to move eight people was extensive and that a human would not survive the process. "So, you mean it would have been a god? Or someone with god-like powers?"

"I would guess so, which is where the next problem arises." Uh oh, I know that look. That's the 'I need you to go do my dirty work to solve my problems' look. I quickly stood up and turned towards the door.

"Nope, don't say it, no thank you. I decline, have fun figuring out this by yourself. I simply want to go to this weird school and have some fun. No quests, no problems. Thanks for dropping by, hopefully, next time we meet it will be about the newest tech or your latest invention. Goodbye." I went to open the door only to find it locked. I whirled around to glare at my father. "Let me out."

"I can't do that. You need to listen at least."

"Fine." I sat down heavily in the nearest chair, narrowly missing knocking off a precariously perched vial containing dark, bubbling liquid.

"I need you, and your friends if you want, to investigate someone for me. This person has been popping up around the world for centuries and trouble always follows. His name, during his normal lifespan, was Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, although you may know him as Pompey the Great, a member of the First Roman Triumvirate. Similarly, to Nero and Commodus, he survived in a half-life due to his name being remembered throughout the centuries. However, it seems that after Nero and his Triumvirate arose, Pompey got aggravated and started causing problems across the world. The recent war these wizards suffered is a prime example. The wizarding world aspect was only inflicted by wizards. However, the muggle world suffered under the hands of not only wizards but also Pompey. He stirred tensions in towns and cities and is now causing trouble in the wizarding world." Hephaestus stopped and looked me directly in the eye. "We…I need you to find him and stop him. Before he destroys this school and wreaks havoc across Britain."

I remained silent, debating whether it was appropriate to walk out the door or not. Finally, I looked back at my dad. "Why me? Why not get Percy or someone more talented to do it?"

He stared at me intensely and quietly admitted, "Because I trust you to get this done well. I know your friends are capable of it but they need you to plan and create everything necessary for this to succeed. In order to successfully contain someone like Pompey, you need a prison capable of trapping a god." He reached into one of his many pockets and pulled out a small roll of blueprints. "Here is a prototype for one of my designs. I was never allowed to make it because Zeus deemed it potentially too risky. However, I know that you will be able to complete it and will use it wisely. Everything you need is in your room." He handed me the blueprints with one large hand and rested the other on my shoulder, "I know this is a lot to ask of you, but I wouldn't ask if I wasn't sure you would be able to do it. I'm not allowed to directly help you make it but I will be watching and if you need any assistance just ask and I'll do what I can."

I stared down at the blueprints in hand, the rough diagram showing a ball no bigger than an orange, handwritten notes covering every free space ranging from measurements to comments. I didn't know how to respond to the massive weight placed on my shoulders but I was grateful for the help given to me. I looked up at my father's ugly, whisker covered face and said softly but not weakly, "Thanks dad, really. I won't let you down." His beetle eyes sparkled and he drew back, standing up and moving towards the centre of the room. I turned my head away and closed my eyes, flinching at the bright light the filled the room. Once it cleared, I raised my head to the now empty room and again looked down at the small roll of paper in my hand.

"Well, no pressure I guess."

"Leo, where have you been?" Hazel's eyes were bright with worry as she roughly threw her arms around my waist. The force of her embrace caused me to stumble back slightly and I felt as though more than one rib was in danger of cracking.

"Wow, calm down gem." I gently eased her arms from around me and retreated, rubbing a hand up and down my side. "Geeze, I swear you cracked some ribs." I flinched under the glare that was sent my way. "Ok, sorry. I was with the Headmistress, she wanted to tell me that…" I didn't think it would be a great time to bring up my problematic father and divine relatives. "That a toilet exploded on the fifth floor and flooded the corridor. She wanted to know if I knew anything about it." I quickly turned my face away from my friends who were gathered around the common room fire, lest I give away my guilt. Hazel nodded to herself and settled back down next to Frank, who wrapped a large arm around her ting frame. Piper held my gaze for a second longer and narrowed her eyes, mouthing: _you, me, later._ I gulped slightly and turned to my favourite pair – Nico and Will. "Sooooo, what did I miss lover boys?" The glare I got in return was almost enough to make me burst into flames and, I must admit, a tiny part of me was tempted to.

"We were just discussing the final details about the party. Apparently, the fireworks you altered from George were really successful and now everything is practically ready. All we need is to make sure that no one gets injured." Will beamed at all of us, an excited little puppy waiting for the entertainment. Nico snorted and muttered _not likely_ under his breath, with a pointed glance at Percy. After feigning hurt and fanning his face with his hand, Percy stood up and announced:

"Alright, I don't know about your lot but I'm heading off to bed. I've had enough issues for one day." Everyone muttered goodnight in reply. I looked down at the floor and twisted my hands slightly in front of me, uttering goodnight as well.

"I better head off to bed as well." I stood up and started making my way towards the dorm rooms. "I'll see all you weirdos in the morning. Watch out for the toilets on the fifth floor." With a sly wink, I jogged up the stairs and entered our shared room. Percy was somehow already snoring on his bed, so I went into the bathroom and locked the door. Standing in front of the mirror, I examined my face: tired eyes, tight lips, pale skin. I rubbed my hands down my face slowly, trying to pull off the stress of everything. _What's the point? It's all just going to continue whether you want it to or not._ I scoffed at the accuracy of my inner commentary and slowly pulled back from the sink. Staring down at my hands, I counted each scar covering them – battles, projects, accidents. An entire map of my past laid out in each little mark, a constant reminder that I would never get to have a normal life. None of us would. This school was the first thing that seemed even slightly like an opportunity to be free and relax for a while. And now I had to say goodbye to that as well _. I won't tell the others about what my father said until I absolutely have to_. With that thought in mind, I headed back towards my bed and laid down quietly. I pulled the small blueprints out of my pocket and laid it on my nightstand, illuminated by the moonlight streaming through the small window above my bed. _No point in thinking about it now, I'll look at it tomorrow_. I turned away from the paper and closed my eyes, burying my problems for another day.

The common room was bursting in a cacophony of laughter and chatter. The Halloween party was currently in full swing – and I was sitting in a far corner on a small window ledge, overlooking the grounds and trying to ignore the screaming students. Piper had cornered me earlier today to demand answers about last night and had reacted surprisingly well when I confessed what my father had tasked me to do. _It'll be ok, we'll figure it out. Together._ Unfortunately for me, it seems that my father was not worried about reminding me of my task at every opportunity. At breakfast, a large mechanical owl landed on our table, spilling my porridge and expelling a large bag of metal and tools before vaulting back into the air and soaring off. My friends asked me about it but I only gave vague answers, brushing them off to rush up to my room to stash the equipment. It was there that I found a new door leading into a large workshop attached to the back of the dormitory. Upon closer examination of the door, it seemed that only I would be able to open it. _Great, thanks, dad. Really helpful, the least you could have gotten me was a 'get out of jail free' card so I could take a pass on this._ Unfortunately, no such respite was granted. So now I sit, watching large skeletal creatures fly above the trees of the forest and listening to my friends enjoying the revelry. The seventh and eighth years sure have outdone themselves – large banners covered the ceilings, pumpkins and bats ( _were they live?)_ floated over the heads of the students, tables sagging under the weight of the food piled on them sat at every wall and beanbags, couches and blankets covered all the remaining space. Percy, Ron, Will, Dean and Seamus were entertaining everyone by playing a complicated game of twister as Annabeth manned the spinner. It didn't look like she was spinning it though, and by the matching smirks on her and Tahlia's faces, I could tell that she was making this as difficult as it could get. Hermione caught my eye from across the room and slowly made her way over to my solitary corner. She made a quick stop and grabbed some drinks, before halting in front of me and passing me a small cup.

"Is everything alright? You've been really quiet all day." Her bushy hair was pulled back into a messy bun atop her head, with some strands falling down her neck and face. I moved my legs to make space for her to sit opposite me and leant my head back against the cool glass.

"Not really. I've just had a lot to think about." I sighed in response to her questioning glance and looked out towards our friends. Percy had succeeded in tangling himself so thoroughly with Ron's long limbs that Harry was now attempting to separate the two without causing either to lose the game. Thalia and Nico were howling with laughter on the adjacent couch, clutching at each other to avoid falling off. I turned back to Hermione and her inquisitive brown eyes. "My _father_ came to talk to me. He wants me to do something, something dangerous. I didn't want to bring it up in front of everyone because I'm not even sure where to start. I just wanted to have a carefree time here, without worries or struggles." I shook my head and took a long drink of the punch settled in the plastic cup. Hermione set down her own cup and laid her hand on my arm which was resting on top of my knee. She smiled sympathetically at me and said:

"Whatever your father asked you to do, you're not alone – we'll all help you." Her brown eyes glimmered as she slowly removed her hand and rested back against the windowsill. "I know I haven't known you for long but I trust you. You did everything you could to help find my brother, so I'll do everything I can to help you complete whatever you've been tasked with. Just know that you can tell us whenever you're ready, I don't want you keeping this to yourself. Trust me, the amount of times Harry refrained from telling us stuff purely because he didn't want to inconvenience us has taught me when to realise that something is wrong." She laughed slightly and turned to look at our friends who were still attempting to disentangle Ron and Percy. "Our lives were never going to be easy – look at us: neigh on eighteen and already suffering from the consequences of war." She turned back to me and locked her fierce gaze on my own. "All I know is that we have to be there for each other, no matter what." A peaceful silence settled on us as we watched our friends and the other students enjoying the peace that they had fought for. A calm sensation spread through my body as I watched everyone laugh and play, despite everything we had been through. A small smile crept over my face as Percy looked up from his place on the floor and beckoned us over with a hand that was still somehow wrapped around Ron's legs. I scoffed and rose, shaking my head at the other half of our whole idiot. Hermione joined me and put an arm around my shoulder, squeezing once reassuringly before skipping over to lean over Ron to help detangle him from her brother. Piper walked around the tangle of limbs to stand at my side, concern etched on her face.

"You ok?" Was all she said. She knew that if I wanted to talk more I would. But I didn't feel like I need it. I felt ok, truly ok for the first time in a while.

"Yeah." I replied, "I'm good. Really good." She smiled brightly and wrapped me in her arms tightly. After a few seconds, she released me and turned to Annabeth and Hermione who were smirking above the entangled boys. Together, the three of them grabbed various limbs and pulled – separating the struggling boys and invoking a deafening explosion of applause and laughter. I laughed along, finally feeling happy despite the news delivered by my father. This was my life and I was going to live it to its fullest, no matter what was thrown my way. I wasn't alone, not while I stood there, looking at my friends – my family. We would get through this, together. With that thought in mind, I dived right into the celebrations, pushing any unpleasant thoughts of the future out of my mind. Tomorrow. I would deal with it tomorrow.

Tomorrow.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen – The Plan**

 ***Percy POV***

"Absolutely not." I held my hands up and stepped back.

"Come on, please?" Annabeth's face was scrunched up in a pout, her grey eyes shining brightly up at me. "Just one hour, I promise."

"But I don't want to study! It's the holidays! That means Christmas, not study." Annabeth wouldn't take no for an answer though and huffed, grabbing my arm and dragging me in the direction of the library despite my loud protests. "Annie please, don't make me suffer like this! Harry and Ron said they were going to go have a snowball fight on the grounds. I would be much better off there than sneezing my way through old tomes."

Annabeth snorted, "You would also be at an advantage, Seaweed brain." She tugged on my arm again, forcing me to nearly trip up some stairs, "One hour researching and I swear we will go find the others and annihilate them in a snowball fight." She smirked, drawing me into the library. Books sat on endless rows of shelves and silence settled heavily upon the few students present. Madam Pince was stalking the students like a vulture preying for a meal. As her beady eyes turned towards Annabeth and I, I got the distinct impressive that _I_ would be that meal.

Annabeth led me to a far corner of the vast library and into a section about containment spells. "Find anything you can about permanent trapping spells. Greek or Latin would probably be the best, however, right now we just need any information we can find." She slinked off, muttering under breath as she ran her fingers over the countless, peeling volumes. I turned to the nearest shelf and attempted to decipher the crumbling letters. Leo had told us all about the task his dad set him and since then, all we had done for the past few months was research everything we could about containment spells, traps, potions – anything that would be helpful in stopping a millennium old tyrant.

 _History of Great Captures: 1530-1890._ Useless.

 _Giant Crusades of the 17_ _th_ _century._ Boring.

 _5 Ways To Help Stop Your Family Members From Embarrassing You At Family Events._ I don't even want to know.

"Annabeth, it's pointless. There's nothing here about keeping someone trapped for all eternity." Silence. "Annabeth?" I crept towards the shelves she had been browsing. Annabeth was nowhere to be seen. I raised my voice slightly and called her name again, still tiptoeing through the silent shelves.

At last, I spotted a head of blonde hair at the end of row and I hurried towards it. just as her name was about to leave my lips, I froze, ice suddenly running through my veins. It was definitely Annabeth but she wasn't moving. I leapt the last few feet towards her and grabbed her face in my hands. "Annie. It's me. Come on, wise girl. Answer me." Annabeth's eyes remained glassy, locked onto the book which was spread open in her hands. Smoke was rolling off the pages and falling to the floor in large clumps. I shook Annabeth again and still got no response. Somehow, she had opened a book and it had entranced her. I wrenched it from her hands and closed it. The title was in Greek and Latin – αυτός ο έλεγχος, _Huius Imperium_ – _Curses for Control_. The Greek letters were crumbling and illegible which explains why Annabeth opened the book. It seems that she unleased a curse from the book and was not in control of her actions. I groaned in annoyance at this stupid library and our stupid lives and picked Annabeth up. Carrying her gently out of the library, I ignored the inquisitive looks and heaved her to the Hospital Wing. Luckily, I met Professor McGonagall on the way and explained what had happened.

"Mr Jackson, you are very lucky it wasn't something worse. What on earth where you doing looking up containment spells anyway?" I gave her the brief rundown of the situation as we hurried through the doors of the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey met us halfway and told me to lay Annabeth down on the nearest bed. The two witches spent the next half an hour standing over Annabeth, waving their wands over her and dripping potions down her throat.

Finally, after what felt like forever but was only about an hour, Annabeth spluttered and sat up, her grey eyes finally back to normal. I let out a breath I didn't realise I had been holding and walked up beside. "Are you ok, Wise girl?" She nodded and gulped down the water on the nightstand. Professor McGonagall watched from the end of the bed.

"Miss Chase will be fine now, we have managed to erase any traces of the curse. However," Her voice turned stern and her eyes downturned, "I would discourage any more trips to the library for a few weeks at least." I smiled at the Professor and muttered my thanks before turning back to Annabeth and running my hand soothingly over her blond curls. Professor McGonagall left us alone to talk. I explained to Annabeth what had happened and smirked once I finished.

"Looks like our hour is up. Guess we have to go play that snowball fight now." Annabeth huffed a laugh and called for Madam Pomfrey, requesting she be allowed to leave. After a few minutes of clever debating, Madam Pomfrey said she could leave, albeit reluctantly. We trudged slowly up to the common room where the others were sitting around the fire and quickly explained what had happened. After everyone had reacted appropriately, Leo spoke up.

"So, I've been thinking. Even if we succeed in building this 'god prison', how are we even going to find Pompey? I mean, it's not going to be easy finding one magical person amongst every single person in the entire UK." Everyone exchanged glances, thinking about any way we could pull off the impossible. After a quiet debate with Will, Nico cleared his throat and put forth an idea.

"You said that Pompey wanted power, right?"

Leo thought for a moment before nodding at Nico, "Yeah, that's what my father said at least."

"Well," Nico continued, "Why do we set a trap for him using power as the bait?" Everyone shared the same blank look. Nico sighed and explained further. "What if we send out a blast of energy, one big enough to catch his attention. And when he comes to investigate, we trap him."

I nodded along with the others, picking apart the theory behind it. It was a solid plan, however –

"How are we going to make a blast of energy that large?" Ron piped up.

Nico smirked slightly and looked around at us. "We have the perfect people sitting right here – three children from the big three gods and three wizards. If that's not enough, then Piper can use her charmspeak and Leo can use his fire. The others can support us and make sure we don't attract any unwanted parties." Annabeth was nodding along with Nico's words and wasn't pointing out any major flaws in the plan, which was good.

"We would need to ensure that we did this somewhere safe, away from the school and any villages." Frank said reasonably.

"We'll figure out all the details later." Said Leo, his eyes gleaming brightly. "For now, lets get building." 


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen – The Argument**

 ***Leo POV***

"Fuck!" The hammer clattered loudly against the wooden worktop as I jumped up and down, waving my throbbing thumb through the air and shouting enough profanities to make a sailor proud. The blasted tool itself lay face-up towards me, gloating at its third victory. I sat down on the leather-covered stool and glared at the blueprints spread across the wall in front of me, tapped at the curling edges. Holidays were nearly over and I was still no closer to building this bloody contraption than I had been at the start. The next term was right around the corner and all I wanted to do was make at least some progress in this god-forsaken plan. Even if we managed to send a blast of power out and attract the attention of Old-Matey-Pompey, it would be useless without the trap. I groaned and banged my head onto the worktop, causing screws, tools and paper to clatter together and roll off.

"Hun, you need to take a break." Piper's melodic voice seeped through my self-induced pity and caused another groan to escape from my throat. Gentle hands lifted my shoulders and placed a plate of food where my head had previously rested. The enticing smells tickling my nose made me open my eyes and meet Piper's worried kaleidoscope ones. The various colours of her irises mesmerised my tired brain and inwardly I admitted that it may be beneficial to take a break.

I sighed and leant back against the back of the stool, drawing the plate of food closer and nibbling on the end of a bread roll. "Pipes, what if I can't do it? What if I'm not skilled enough to make this trap?" I snorted and placed the bread roll back on the plate, "Hell, this was meant to be made by a _god_. Not a scrawny teenager."

Piper's eyes flashed suddenly and she grabbed my shoulders, spinning me around to face her. "Leo. Enough. You are the greatest mechanic I know. If anyone can build this, you can." She frowned, the delicate skin between her eyebrows creasing, "However, you're no use dead on your feet. You need to sleep and eat a proper meal. Now come on, we're going to the common room." She grabbed my arm with one hand and my unfinished meal with the other and dragged me out of my workshop and back into the bustling common room. Everyone else was seated in the cosy armchairs, save Harry and Ginny, chatting animatedly about the renewal of classes. Piper released my arm and thrust me into the empty seat beside Hermione and handed me my dinner. The conversation faltered as we stared at each other, waiting to see whose strong will would win this time. After a few tense seconds, I dropped my gaze and grumpily bit into the previously nibbled-on bread roll.

"So," I drawled in an attempt to puncture the silence that had followed my defeat, "Where's Harry and Gin?" Ron looked over at me from where he sat playing chess with Annabeth and shrugged.

"They said they were going for a walk." He looked at the watch on Percy's wrist where it was slumped over Annabeth's shoulder, "Now that I think about it, they have been a while. Do you think we should go look for them?"

Hermione shook her head and placed her elbows on her knees, resting her chin the palm of her hand. "I'm sure they'll be in soon. It's getting near dinner ti – " She broke off as the portrait hole slammed open and two figures barged in. Wide eyes turned to watch in horror as the fuming redhead attempted to grab the raven-haired boy's arm, only to be roughly shoved away.

"ENOUGH GINNY! I ALREADY TOLD YOU TO LEAVE ME ALONE!" Harry's shouts ricocheted off the common room walls and I saw some people flinch at the sudden volume.

Ginny's face was the sad shade as her hair and she stormed closer, pushing the taller boy roughly against a nearby wall and pointing a shaking finger in his face. "NO! FIRST YOU TELL ME WE NEED TO TALK AND NOW YOU TELL ME YOU'RE BREAKING UP WITH ME! WHY? WE'RE PERFECT FOR EACH OTHER AND YOU KNOW IT!" Ron had sucked in a harsh breath at his sister's words and half-risen off the floor. Hermione pushed down on his shoulders, however, and shook her head. The heads of the other students swung back and forth as if they were watching an extremely tense Quidditch game.

Harry was obviously furious; his entire body was shaking and lose objects close to him were hovering slightly. "EVER SINCE WE GOT BACK TOGETHER, ALL YOU'VE BEEN IS CLINGY AND SPITEFUL!" He roared, "I CAN'T EVEN HAVE A CIVIL CONVERSATION WITH A FRIEND BEFORE YOU SWEEP IN CLAIMING THAT I'M NOT SPENDING ENOUGH TIME WITH YOU, EVEN THOUGH WE HAD JUST SPENT BREAKS TOGETHER." He was panting now, a wild look sparking in his eyes as the redhead laughed spitefully and shrieked,

"FRIEND? YOU WERE TALKING TO DRACO-FUCKING-MALFOY. IF YOU THINK THAT SNIVILLING DEATH EATER SCUM ARE FRIENDS THEN MAYBE WE SHOULDN'T BE TOGETHER ANY MORE!" She hit Harry hard in the chest and caused him to smash back into the wall.

The rest of the common room remained silent as Harry looked up at his best friend's sister and said in a clear voice, calm despite the anger rolling off him in waves, "Good, then we agree on that at least. We're through Ginny." With that, he spun on his heel and marched towards the portrait hole which had been left wide open. Stopping, but without looking back, he said loudly, "And _yes_ , Draco-fucking-Malfoy is my friend and if anyone has a problem with that, then shove it up your ass and leave me alone." The common room remained silent even after the echoing bang of the portrait hole had disapparated. Ginny was shaking silently, still staring at the wall where Harry had been standing. Ron had made his way towards his sister and gently grabbed her arm, leading her up towards his dormitory.

Turning back to my remaining friends, I let out a soft sigh and leant back into the pillows. "Well, that is going to cause some issues." Hermione, her face pale and tight, nodded and leant against my shoulder.

 ***Harry POV***

I regretted shouting at Ginny in the common room the moment I stepped out but I had just had enough of her bullshit. All year she had been practically hanging off my arm and complaining that I didn't put enough effort into our relationship. Sure, in the first few weeks it seemed ok. We had picked it back up from where we had left it off at the end of sixth year. Yet now…I shook my head and continued down the corridor, no real destination in mind. Some part of me always knew that Ginny and I would never have worked, we were too different now after the war. And as much as she was currently pissing me off, she was still Ron's sister and admittedly, a good friend.

I stopped and turned towards the nearest window, gazing out across the frozen lake and snow blanketed grounds. I rested my head against the cool window panes and scrunched up my eyes against the pressure building behind them.

For the most part, the deterioration of Ginny and my relationship can be accounted to her clinginess and attitude. However, part of it also fell on my disinterest. I simply didn't like her the same way I once did. The thoughts that had been floating tauntingly through my head all term rose again to my foremind. _It's not just her, you know. You see her as a sister, not a girlfriend. The same with Cho, you thought you liked her but in the end, it wasn't in the way which it should have been._ I shook my head in an attempt to rid my mind of those thoughts and suddenly pulled my arm back, smashing it soundly into the wall next to the window with a sickening crack. I swore and turned around, leaning my back against the wall and sliding down to sit on the floor, cradling my head between my knees and holding my broken hand. Tears streamed down my face as I waged a battle within my own mind. I had suspected for years that I viewed girls differently to other guys but I had never wanted to admit it. Even though breaking up with Ginny had been messy, I felt as if a heavy weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I could finally breathe once again.

If I was right, _if_ what I suspected was true, then my entire life was going to change. Ron wouldn't accept me, definitely not after what I did to Ginny. Hermione would be supportive but would potentially change how she acted around me. _Ha, she might even try to set me up with people._ I laughed silently at the obscure thought, wiping my eyes on my robes. My hand had now started to swell and turn black and I knew I would have to go see Madam Pomfrey and explain what had happened. I also knew I would eventually have to go back to the common room to deal with the bomb that was Ron. I heaved a sigh and attempted to rise, only to fall back to the ground with a slight cry as searing pain lanced through my body. _Oh shit, I've really fucked up this time._

I blinked back against the fog threatening to cloud my vision and flinched as I heard footsteps nearby. They halted for a moment and then sharply increased in speed, growing louder as they neared me. Black robes lined with green flashed briefly in my vision before a familiar blond head appeared. "What did you do to yourself now Potter?" The usual venom from previous years had disappeared from Malfoy's voice as he gently examined my discoloured hand. As he bent over my injury and flitted shining grey eyes over it, I thought about a similar instance a few months back.

 _It was the third day of school and I had been walking across the grounds after a visit to Hagrid's. I hadn't seen him much after the war ended and had just wanted to check in. however, on the way back, my ankle had gotten caught in a rabbit hole and I pitched forward, a cry escaping my lips as the ground rushing up to meet me. A few seconds later, I came too, blinking back the darkness that had shrouded my senses. Warm hands supported my back and familiar drawl sounded across my right shoulder. "How on earth did you manage to not only knock yourself out but also_ break _your ankle while tripping in a rabbit hole?" The expected hate-filled words were nowhere to be heard and I thought I distinctly picked up something like concern in Malfoy's words. I sat up slightly, aided by Malfoy's strong hands still on my back. I turned around to face the blond and peered at his usually steering face. To my surprise, no sneer was in sight. Instead, a slight smile was playing across the other boy's lips as he removed his hands and crossed them over his thin chest. I sat dumbstruck for a few seconds before he tutted and smirked at me, "Why Potter if you continue to look at me like that I'm going to have to present you with a handkerchief to wipe the drool off your face." The sarcasm-covered words jolted my brain back into action and I peered curiously at Malfoy._

" _Why are you helping me?" That seemed to surprise him. His eyes lit up quickly and his mouth parted slightly before once again settling into a slight smirk._

" _Well, I saw a damsel_ gracefully _fall headfirst to the ground and could not ignore the overwhelming urge to offer my assistance." I snorted at his words, rubbing my forehead gently where a headache was starting to form. I attempted to stand and soon realised that I had indeed broken my ankle. I crumpled with another cry, Malfoy catching me mere seconds before I hit the ground. He propped me up and slung one of my arms over his shoulder and placed one of his around my waist. "I'm taking you to the Hospital Wing, no arguments." I merely shrugged as best as I could and slowly hopped towards the school with the assistance of my previous enemy._

 _We got many incredulous stares during the trek up to the Hospital Wing and whispers followed behind us._ Is that Malfoy and Potter? Why aren't they trying to kill each other? They probably had a fight and Malfoy knows he'll get kicked out for hurting Potter – cowardly Death Eater. _I turned my head towards Malfoy to see his head held high, ignoring the hateful mutterings of our fellow students. I felt slightly guilty about not making more effort to apologise to him, considering I had made the initial effort to ensure he and his mother avoided Azkaban. I drew in a slow breath and muttered quietly, "Malfoy, I'm sorry; for not apologising for my actions and treatment of you in previous years and for not making the other students treat you properly."_

 _He simply huffed a slight laugh and turned his head, grey eyes meeting green. "Potter, I was just as horrible – more so even – and you shouldn't have to apologise for how others are treating me, that's against your control. You did everything you could to ensure that my mother and I weren't sent to Azkaban and I appreciate that. I just regret not making more effort to be your friend earlier."_

 _I pulled him to a stop gently and rested my weight against my good foot. I took a deep breath and held out my hand, "Friends?" Malfoy's mouth dropped open slightly as he hesitantly accepted my hand and shook once. Mutters broke out from the onlooking students but we both ignored them as we resumed our original positions and struggled towards the double doors of the Hospital Wing._

I snapped back to reality, realising that I still hadn't answered Malfoy's question. I sat a bit straighter and tried to blink the tears of pain out of my eyes. "I um…might have hit the wall…"

"And why pray tell, did you do that?" His eyes were twinkling behind the blond locks that had fallen across his forehead.

"I was…uh…angry…" My explanation sounded pathetic even to me and Malfoy shook his head and laughed slightly. Without asking any more questions, he helped me to my feet and rested a supporting hand around my waist.

"You can explain more _after_ we've gotten that looked at." With that, he started to lead me down the corridor in the direction of the Hospital Wing. "You know," he voiced without stopping, "this is giving me severe déjà vu." I laughed at then immediately winced as the action sent a white-hot spear of pain through my arm and chest. I unconsciously leant back against Malfoy, feeling him stiffen slightly before relaxing and tightening his arm around my waist.

"I guess I just need to be more careful and avoid situations in which I become a damsel in need of your rescue." Malfoy's body shook with laughter as it echoed across the empty corridor and I felt a large smile spread across my face. After our initial declaration of friendship, we had been spending more time together: in the library (him studying while I pretended to), on the Quidditch pitch, wandering corridors after class. The past few months had left me feeling happier and lighter despite my constant fights with Ginny and the stress of the appearance of the demigods. Malfoy was the only person I had told about them and he had sworn secrecy. It was funny how now, after only a few months of friendship, I trusted him more than some of my other friends.

At long last, the double doors of the Hospital Wing appeared in front of us and we shuffled in, earning a glare from Madam Pomfrey. The nurse bundled over and tutted exaggeratedly, "Mr Potter, Mr Malfoy, what have you done now?" I felt a slight blush creep up my neck and saw, out of the corner of my eye, a slight pink tinge to Malfoy's otherwise pale complexion.

"Potter hit a wall and broke his hand." The bluntness of the statement made me cringe and then wince at the following spike of pain. Madam Pomfrey simply shook her head and led us to a bed near the far end of the ward. With a bit of help from Malfoy, I climbed onto the soft covers and rested against the large pillows. Malfoy settled himself on the seat beside the bed and placed his hands behind his head, leaning back with a slight smirk still plastered on his face. Madam Pomfrey had moved to search through her potion supplies and trotted back, flitting around my bed as she forced various painkiller potions down my throat. Once my nerves had been properly numbed, she brought out her wand, grabbed my arm and straightened it, jabbing her wand quickly at my hand. A loud _crack_ bounced off the walls and I reflectively flinched, even though I felt no pain. Malfoy laughed at the look of relief on my face as I sensed, more than felt, the correction of the tiny bones in my hand. The nurse quickly wrapped it in a bandage, more to remind me of the lingering sensitivity than to actually help the healing. Madame Pomfrey nodded, her job done.

"Now, you should know by now that even though it is healed, it may still feel uncomfortable for a few hours. Try not to punch any more walls for the next few days." She patted me gently on the shoulder, "You're free to go Potter. Malfoy, make sure he gets back to the common room without any more _incidents_." With a smirk on her face, she turned away and calmly moved towards the other patients in the ward. Malfoy was still smirking openly at me and I slumped against the pillows, closing my eyes with a groan.

"What's wrong?" Concern filled the other boy's voice and I felt a soft hand on my shoulder. Without opening my eyes, I forced the words out, hoping that Malfoy wouldn't laugh or judge.

"I don't want to go back to the common room." I peeked an eye open at the extended pause to see Malfoy watching me expectantly. "Ugh. I had a fight with Ginny and broke up with her in front of the entire house, including Ron." Understanding and something that looked like pity flashed through Malfoy's metallic eyes before he nodded slowly.

"Well…" He glanced around at the clock near the wall, "Dinner is about to start if you feel brave enough to face your roommates?" I narrowed my eyes slightly at the teasing tone and sat up, navigating my way to the edge of the bed closest to Malfoy.

I smirked, matching the one still gracing Malfoy's face and lightly jumped off the bed. "Of course, I'm brave enough." I started walking away backwards, keeping my eyes firmly locked onto his. "Besides," I continued, raising an eyebrow slightly, "it's not like I haven't faced worse." A sharp laugh escaped from Malfoy as he followed me.

"Whatever you say, Potter." He replied with a smile. I shrugged and slowed down to walk beside him. A sudden thought pierced my mind and a smile tugged at my lips.

"Call me Harry, we're friends now you know." Surprise flicked behind the grey irises, silver in the moonlight which hit our faces.

"Ok…Harry," Malfoy shrugged as well and a smirk crept back onto his porcelain face. "Just don't expect me to stop calling you Potter whenever you do something stupid."

I let out a bark of laughter and slung an arm around the boy's thin shoulders. "I wouldn't want it any other way, Draco." We both continued laughing as we made our way towards the Great Hall and pushed open the double doors.

 ***Percy POV***

I glanced up as the double doors of the Great Hall were pushed open and Harry and Malfoy walked in, Harry's arm slung over the other boy's shoulder. I saw multiple heads turn as the raven-haired boy removed his arm and clapped the blonde on the shoulder before they parted ways, the latter heading towards the Slytherin table on the right and the former veering towards our table on the left. As he got closer, I noticed that the smile he had on his face when he arrived was decidedly more forced and that he had begun to nervously tap against his left leg. Another irregularity I picked up on was the white bandage wrapped around his right hand. It also seemed that I wasn't the only one to notice it.

"HARRY! What on earth happened?" Hermione's shriek filled our ears and caused the conversation at our table and the one behind us to falter. Harry's steps had also faltered slightly as he scanned the table for the two absent redheads. He seemed cave slightly within himself but continued walking, settling between Hermione and Piper. Hermione immediately grabbed his hand and began examining it carefully.

"It's ok Hermione, it's healed. Madam Pomfrey thought it might be more beneficial to put it in a bandage so that I actually remembered it was slightly sensitive." He reached towards the piles of food in front of him and began heaping various dishes onto his plate. He seemed oblivious to the daggers Hermione was sending his way, so I thought it might be a good time to play interference.

"Dude, what did you even do to have to get it healed?" Hermione's eyes darted towards mine for a split second before settling again on her best friend. Harry had gone slightly pink and rubbed the back of his neck unconsciously.

"I um…may have punched a wall."

"WHAT!" This time even the teacher's table stopped their conversations to watch our little group. Hermione was so worked up that I wouldn't have been surprised to see smoke come out of her ears. Poor Harry looked so uncomfortable, his eyes quickly darting over my shoulder to another table before meeting mine with an unspoken plea for help. I sighed and reached over the table to calmly take Hermione's hand (which had been inching closer and closer the fork beside her) in my own.

"'Mione, relax. Give the poor guy a chance to explain before you stab him with a fork." Laughter burst from our surrounding friends and my sister even allowed herself a slight chuckle before nodding and turning back to look at Harry. The look on her face left no room for argument so Harry quickly gulped and placed his utensils back on the table.

"After my, er, _fight_ with Ginny, I wandered for a bit to try and let my anger out. In the end, I was so worked up that I punched a wall and broke my hand. Draco found me and took me to the Hospital Wing and then walked with me here. The end." Hermione's eyes had widened at the use of the Slytherin boy's first name but had not interrupted. Harry looked up and down the table again and voiced hesitantly, "So…um…where are Ron and Ginny?"

Hermione cringed slightly and replied quietly. "After your…er… _outburst_ …Ron took Ginny up to his dormitory and is still up there. I went up to check on them and he just told me to go to dinner without them." She paused and took a deep breath before continuing, "Harry, why did you break up with Ginny? And why the common room of all places?"

Harry had obviously been expecting these questions and didn't hesitate to answer. "For months now, it's been rocky between Ginny and I. She's been really clingy, not leaving me alone for more than ten minutes and telling me who I can and can't talk to." He inhaled sharply before continuing on, the words pouring out of his mouth like a dam had exploded in his mind. "When she pulled me away from my conversation with Draco and demanded why I was talking to "death eater scum" I lost it and told her she needed to just back off a bit and give me some breathing room. She got so angry at that and said I never spent any time with her, even though we had just spent the past hour together and she raged on about how I obviously cared more about "sucking up to pathetic cowards who had tried to kill me and deserved to die or rot in jail" than her. And I just couldn't take it anymore – the ridicule, the spite. So, I told her I didn't think we were working out and that I thought it would be best if we broke up. And she lost her shit, screaming at me all the way back to the common room before I finally lost my cool completely." He placed his elbows on the table and rested his hand on his upturned palms. "I feel horrible for shouting at her in front of everyone, especially Ron, but I was so sick of feeling controlled and confused all the time." He heaved a sigh and looked around at the rest of us in worry. I reached over a patted him gently on the shoulder, a sympathetic smile on my face. Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed tightly, whispering something in his ear that the rest of us couldn't hear. Piper, on the other side of Harry, gently squeezed his arm after Hermione had released him.

"Harry, I'm sorry you've been going through that alone. You should've spoken to us, at least one of us and we would've understood and tried to help however we could." She looked up at him with understanding eyes, "Please don't feel like you're alone during whatever you may be going through. We're here, all of us." Recognition and surprise sparked behind the other boy's eyes as the rest of us nodded our agreement.

Harry sighed in relief and smiled at us all. "Thanks, guys. I'll make sure I talk to you more in the future."

"Bro, talk or don't talk, whatever you need, we're here." Leo reached over Piper to fist bump Harry and then turned back to his chocolate pudding. A thought flared in my mind suddenly and I didn't think before voicing it.

"Leo? How's the construction going on what your dad gave you?" Immediately I regretted mentioning it as Leo's body stiffened and his face shut down. "Oh, man, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

He sighed before shaking his head slowly. "No, it's ok. It's just been slow, I don't understand what I'm missing. Also, it doesn't help that half the instructions are in some strange symbols that I've never seen before. Even Annabeth hasn't seen them." Annabeth nodded in agreement from my left side, her face screwed up in confusion and frustration at the thought. Hermione, on the other hand, had perked up at the mention of the symbols.

"Leo, is there any chance that I could take a look at them once we get back to the common room? I do Ancient Runes and may be able to offer another insight." Leo nodded quickly, excitement lighting up his face. Hermione's eyes drifted for a moment before continuing, "Also…" She quickly glanced at Harry, "It might be worth asking someone else for help…if the runes are what we use in class then I think it would be beneficial to have a second, educated opinion."

Harry's face scrunched up in confusion. "You can't possibly mean you want to ask a _teacher_ to help us, Hermione? Even if they did translate it, they wouldn't let us continue with our plan." Hermione's face flushed pink and she muttered quickly.

"No, not a teacher." She glanced around at our inquisitive faces. "I was thinking it may be beneficial to ask…to ask Malfoy for help…he knows a lot more about runes than I do and he is incredibly smart as well." Shocked silence followed her statement and Harry looked like he had been slapped. Annabeth, on the other hand, thought it was a brilliant idea.

"Hermione, that's such a good idea. Should we go ask him now if he will help us? Then we can quickly show you both the blueprints and you'll still have some time to discuss them before curfew. Oh, can I please join you?" Both girls lit up at the possibility to go research anything and everything. Meanwhile, Harry was watching them with his mouth opening and closing quickly like a fish out of water. He kept glancing at the Slytherin table and I turned around to catch Malfoy watching him in confusion and with a slight hint of worry. I turned back towards Harry and smirked at him, understanding blooming in my mind. He stared back at me and blushed slightly. The others were oblivious however and we still discussing all the possibilities that had now presented themselves when Professor McGonagall dismissed us to our common rooms.

Immediately, Hermione and Annabeth launched out of their seats and hurried towards the other side of the Great Hall, Harry dragged between them. The rest of us followed at a safe pace and reconnected with the trio right as they reached the Slytherin table, heading determinedly in the direction of the tall blonde.

"Draco!" The remainder of the Slytherin table froze at the blonde's name, along with a good portion of the students who remained in the hall. Mouths dropped open as Hermione and Annabeth raced towards the startled boy, Harry trailing dejectedly behind them. I saw Draco meet Harry's eyes in question and the other boy merely shrug and smile. Before long, the crowd had dispersed and Hermione, Annabeth, Leo and Draco were all talking animatedly about runes and symbols and other confusing topics that left Harry and my head's reeling. The others had said retreated to the common room and promised to clear the dormitory so we could quickly sneak in a examine the blueprints.

As we made our way back to the common room, Draco's voice floated up towards me from where he stood at the back of our small group next to Harry. "So, how exactly are you going to explain taking me up to your dormitory. I'm not exactly welcomed by the majority of the school population." We all paused in shock.

"Oh, er…" Harry mumbled, "We didn't really think about that too much." Draco raised an eyebrow in response and scanned the rest of our faces with an amused smirk.

Hermione's face was set deep in thought until she let out a sudden _Oh!_ and turned towards Draco with bright eyes. One of us will open the portrait hole and quickly see how packed it is. If there's a lot of people, Harry can go in and grab his invisibility cloak and then come back out. Leo and I should go with him so we can stop anyone from causing issues." The underlying _Ron_ didn't go unmissed by anyone but we all nodded. Hermione continued quickly, "Percy, Annabeth and Draco can wait out of sight and then Harry can come back out, pretending to be uncomfortable with the attention he will surely attract."

"That won't be very difficult." The boy in question muttered.

Hermione pursed her lips in a very good impression of Professor McGonagall and continued, "Once he leaves, he can give the cloak to Draco and then both of them come back inside with Percy and Annabeth." She turned to me quickly, "Make it seem like you're ushering him up to bed so that he won't spend the night wandering around aimlessly." I smirked and nodded. _That shouldn't be that hard_.

Annabeth beamed at Hermione and grabbed the other girl's arm excitedly. "That's so good. I think this will definitely work!" Hermione's face lit up in response as we continued walking towards the common room. Draco and Leo had started talking about various compositions somehow seen in potion-making and mechanics, so I drifted back to Harry who was walking with his hands in his pockets and his head downturned.

"Hey mate, everything ok?" The other boy looked up at me and shook his head, running a pale hand through his dark locks. The similarities between our appearances hit me suddenly and I felt inclined to help him in whatever way I could.

"I've uh, been doing some thinking. Ever since what happened with Ginny." He shook his head again and glanced at the group in front of us, or more specifically, at one particular boy. That action alone confirmed the suspicions that had been floating around my mind. I interjected softly before he could continue.

"You know that we would all support you, about anything?" Harry looked at me in surprise and I raised an eyebrow, sending a very pointed look in Draco's direction. Harry's cheeks flushed slightly and he quickly turned away. I placed an arm around his shoulder and drew him in closer so that there was less chance of being overheard. "Whatever you're feeling is ok, Harry. None of us will pressure you into admitting or acting on any feelings or thoughts. Just know that we're all here with open ears. Besides, I think it might help if you talk to Nico or Will. That way you can fully gain an understanding of what you feel before you do anything else." Harry nodded slowly along with my words, gratitude evident in his emerald eyes.

"At some point, I realised that I simply wasn't interested in Ginny the way I used to be. I mean, I still find her physically attractive but I don't fancy her anymore. Maybe that's just a result of how she's been treating me." He sighed and directed his attention to our laughing friends in front of us. "I still find girls attractive, Merlin, I'm surrounded by gorgeous girls. But I see them all as good friends and, in Hermione's case, as a sister. I haven't found someone this year who really makes me feel something _different_." I looked at him and raised another eyebrow, disbelief evident in my face. He blushed again and mumbled, nearly too quietly for me to hear despite us being right next to each other, "Ok, so I've found _someone_." He glanced again at the blonde boy and sighed miserably, "I just can't understand what I'm feeling. AND, even if I _do_ figure out what I'm feeling, I have no idea if there's even a chance of it being reciprocated!" His voice had risen enough that Annabeth looked back in confusion. I quickly shook my head and waved her away, mouthing _I'll tell you later._ She nodded and sped up, engaging the others in another conversation about smart things. I glanced down at the miserable boy under my arm and patted his shoulder slightly.

"It's ok Harry, you'll figure it out and I'll be right beside you the entire way."

He looked up at me and smiled, the first real smile I had seen from him the entire day. "Thanks, Percy. It means a lot." I removed my arm from his shoulder and instead latched onto his forearm, dragging him quickly towards the group huddled near a statue a few metres away from the portrait hole.

Annabeth and Hermione looked up when we arrived and simply nodded before gesturing for us all to gather closer. Hermione's eyes were bright as she whispered, "Ok, remember the plan. Let's go."

* * *

 **A/N - I am so sorry for how long it's been. I was thinking about pairings and realised I loved writing Draco and Harry more than Ginny and Harry (and I've been reading lots of fics), so I decided to take that path instead.**

 **Also, I was thinking about potentially scraping Ron x Hermione and instead do Hermione x Krum, thoughts? I never really had a solid plan for this fic but now I think I know which direction I want to go in. So, hopefully, it's still interesting. (It is going to be along fic and I apologise for that). Because I'm really enjoying writing this now, there should be more chapters up soon. Xxx.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen – The Ally**

 ***Leo POV***

"Well," I began, as Draco threw off Harry's invisibility cloak, "that was easier than I expected."

The plan had been executed flawlessly. Harry had entered and immediately all conversations faltered, heads turning to follow the awkward teen. He had hurried up to his dormitory with me and Hermione following and grabbed his invisibility cloak, stuffing it under his robes just before the door to the dormitory opened. Ron, Piper, Frank and Hazel entered, the former marching in fuming and the others hesitantly following.

"What on earth gave you the bloody _brilliant_ idea to chew out my sister in front of the _entire_ _common room_?" Ron's shouts had echoed throughout the dormitory.

Harry, eloquent as ever, had managed a brief, "Err – " before being cut off by Hermione.

"Ron, instead of shouting at him, maybe you should calm down and listen to his side of the story. And if you can't do that right now, go find somewhere else to be." Surprise flickered across the redhead's face at his girlfriend's words and his mouth opened and closed slightly like a fish.

Piper stepped forward quickly and gently grabbed Ron's arm. "I think it would be better if we went down to the common room. How 'bout you verse Nico at another game of chess? Maybe this time you can win." Ron nodded slowly and Harry sent Piper a grateful look. Hazel and Piper turned and left, directing Ron between them.

Frank, however, stayed behind to quietly mutter, "Come get us when you finish whatever you're planning." With a small wink in my direction, he retreated, leaving the door wide open.

Harry released a small sigh and adjusted the lump of the Cloak. "Well, see you in a minute." He too retreated, this time closing the door behind him as any respectable human should. I turned to Hermione and shrugged, then turned around and led her to the far door which opened into the makeshift work station.

I heard a sharp intake of breath and spun around to see Hermione's eyes dart around the room at an incredible speed, shining bright. "Well," I began, "it's not much but it'll do."

Hermione looked incredulous that I could describe this place as 'not much'. It was about the same size as the adjoined dormitory, yet instead of beds, sturdy tables lined three walls with another table in the middle of the room. The far wall contained a furnace, cooling bucket, anvil and tool shelf, along with basically everything else you need to successfully create anything. The walls adjacent to the door were covered in shelves, which held books ranging from architecture to water properties. Large blueprints were spread on the wall either side of the doorway, covered in notes, runes, equations and the occasional doodle of 'Team Leo' and 'Hot Stuff'. Comfortable wheelie chairs were strategically placed to allow easy movement between the tables and various tools, limiting the amount of potentially unnecessary walking. Somehow, a window had been placed on the left wall which allowed a healthy amount of sunlight or moonlight to filter through the otherwise artificially lit area.

I had barely opened my mouth to invite Hermione to examine the blueprints when I heard the dormitory door crack open, allowing footsteps to shuffle in, before quickly shutting behind them. The small group of arrivals hurried across the room and smoothly piled into the work station.

Percy was gasping for breath, evidently from the force of the laughter he had brought in with him. Draco pulled off the invisibility cloak and bent double, shoulders shaking. Annabeth had a large smirk on her face and Harry closely resembled a tomato. Hermione and I exchanged confused looks and I waited until the struggling boys had regained enough composure to ask, "What the hell happened?"

Percy heaved in a great breath and grinned, "Well, everything was going according to plan for a total three seconds." Draco started snickering again and had to stuff his fist in his mouth, "Harry here – our very loveable, _awkward_ , newly single bloke – walked back into the common room at our 'insistence' and promptly collided face-first with his ex. I have honestly never seen someone's face lose its colour that fast." Draco burst into laughter again and leant up against the door to remain upright. Harry's face was still bright red and he had put his hands into his pockets, head down. Percy took a shuddering breath and continued, "Anyway, he walked smack-bang right into Godzilla herself and promptly shut down from fright. It literally seemed like every single person in that room had stopped breathing. And then, _Ron_ got up and joined his sister's side, standing there like a ginger bodyguard. I honestly thought that Harry had actually just died while standing." He stopped again, breaking out into giggles before gathering himself again, smirking at Hermione's and mine raised eyebrows, "Ok, ok, I'm good now. So, then, with everyone hanging onto the tension in preparation, _Draco_ (still very invisible mind you) sneaks up behind Annabeth and me to point his wand at the awkward, silent trio and commences to cast a spell which jolted Harry out of his stupor and caused him to blurt the first thing on his mind. Harry, want to take over?" Percy asked the still red-faced boy, smirking widely.

Harry seemed to shrink in on himself with embarrassment and muttered, so quietly that I almost missed it, "I said: If only our relationship had had this much tension, it might've lasted longer." Draco and Percy both lost it again and fell to the floor, tears running down their faces as their bodies convulsed with uncontained fits of laughter. Annabeth smiled sympathetically at the raven-haired boy and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. Hermione and I, on the other hand, were staring dumbstruck at Harry.

Hermione recovered first, "Oh, you didn't Harry. Please, please, _please_ tell me you didn't say that in front of everybody!" Harry sheepish grimace confirmed her worst fears.

I, however, found the situation – while unfortunate – extremely hilarious. "Dude, even though you are probably in a deep pile of shit now, that is amazing." I shook my head in awe slightly and imagined the looks on the redheads' faces. "Aw man, tomorrow is going to be _so_ awkward."

"Thanks for reminding me, Leo, really." Harry sighed sufferingly, "At least this can't possibly be as bad as fourth year. That was a nightmare." He and Hermione shared a knowing look and smiled.

"Well," I started moving towards the blueprints on the wall, "I think Harry has been more than thoroughly embarrassed. Let's see if it was actually all worth it." As a group, they followed to stand behind me in front of the paper-covered wall. Draco stepped forward and ran a thin finger along the shape of a rune that I had circled multiple times in frustration. Hermione had soon joined him and mimicked his movements, her lips forming silent words.

Draco turned back to the rest of us, beaming, "We can definitely work with this." At last, after months of roadblocks and frustration, I could finally be helpful. I reached around and dispensed notebooks and pencils and we all lent together to begin working on the impossible task that was finally starting to look more possible.

 ***Harry POV***

"I don't want to work with this." Draco's dreary words hovered on the edge of our hazy brains. We had been pouring over runes and calculations for most of the night and every single one of us were exhausted to our cores. Annabeth and Percy were falling asleep against each other, propped up by the wall. Hermione was lying on her stomach, flipping slowly through pages with eyes that didn't seem to focus properly on the text. Leo was snoring from where he lay upside down upon the nearest table, the book he was reading left unattended on his chest. I glanced at Draco, something I had found myself doing more and more over the past few hours. His face was paler than usual and his eyes were heavily lidded with fatigue. His normally well-styled hair was mussed from when he had run his hands through it after the fourth hour of translating runes. He sighed deeply, his thin shirt rising and falling smoothly with the movement. "It's nearly two o'clock. Why don't we call it a night?"

Percy merely grunted and pulled Annabeth closer, drool starting to form on the corner of his mouth. Leo didn't react and continued to snore from above us, while Hermione nodded her agreement and rested her head on the book she had been flipping through, evidently happy to use it as a pillow. I turned towards Draco and cleared my throat, speaking quietly to avoid disturbing the others, "Do you want to use my Cloak to head back to your common room or do you just want to stay here? I can grab some pillows and blankets from the dorm?"

He fixed his steely grey eyes on mine, surprise flickering behind them at my offer. Slowly, he nodded his head and began clearing the books and notes to make space to sleep while he answered, "I think I'll stay here, I can't be bothered to walk down to the dungeons." I got up and headed tiredly towards the door. Just as I was reaching to pull it open, I heard a quiet addition to Draco's previous response, "Thank you, Harry." I looked back and met his eyes, nodding once to show that I understand. He wasn't simply thanking me for the pillows.

By the time I had returned from sneaking around the dorms, grabbing the sleeping bags and pillows still left over from weeks ago, Draco had succeeded in clearing a space large enough for the both of us to comfortably sleep. I gently lifted Hermione's head and replaced the book with a pillow, throwing a blanket over her and whispering goodnight. Draco placed a blanket carefully across Percy and Annabeth and left two pillows near them in case they fell sideways during the night. We both silently agreed to levitate Leo off the table onto a sleeping bag and pillow of his own, to avoid any unfortunate accidents. Our jobs done, we both grabbed sleeping bags and pillows and moved to the clear space on the outskirts of the group.

I would be lying if I said it didn't feel slightly strange lying next to Draco with less than a metre separating us. Every thought and doubt I had been having throughout the past few months came rushing back suddenly, causing my chest to tighten and my throat to constrict. No matter what my feelings were towards Draco, I genuinely cherished the friendship we had built and I didn't want to threaten that. It would simply be safer to not say anything and let the path lay itself.

I was still staring at the ceiling, lost in thought when I heard my name softly whispered from next to me. I turned on my side to see Draco watching me, an expression of concern on his face. "Are you ok, Harry? You've been lost in thought ever since your fight with the Weaslette. Did you want to talk about it?" He quietly continued.

I focused on his face, hidden in darkness, except for his eyes which were illuminated by a thin shaft of moonlight. "I realised that I wasn't attracted to her anymore, hadn't been for months truthfully. Along with the fact that she was extremely clingy and obsessive – she never left me alone for longer than one lesson. Merlin, I couldn't even have a conversation with you without her losing her shit." I shook my head (well as much as I could whilst lying down) and continued, lowering my voice slightly as it had risen in anger, "Eventually, I just had enough. I didn't mean to shout at her in the common room, that's why I took her outside to talk to her. But she just refused to listen. And now I have no idea how I'm going to reconcile with Ron because obviously, he chose her side, she's his sister for Merlin's sake. I'm just so sick of feeling so confused, like I'm floating just outside my body, able to watch but unable to comment." I fell silent, realising that I had probably said too much.

Instead of judging, Draco had a contemplative look on his face. "When my father was sentenced to the Dementor's Kiss, I felt lost. On one hand, he was the man who had potentially ruined my own and my mother's lives, forcing us to kiss the feet of a madman. On the other, however, he was my father who picked me up when I fell down and was proud of my achievements." He met my eyes, speaking clearly yet quietly. "A part of me felt sorry for him, for the person who he could have been, the relationship we could have had. But in the end, I understood that that image was one which I had held in my mind and that I wasn't seeing the truth in front of me. The war changed us all – I didn't want my father's legacy and you and Weaslette weren't meant to last. It's not your fault, you tried but, ultimately, you were just too different."

We remained silent for a while, just watching each other in the moonlight. Eventually, I asked the question that had been plaguing my mind for days. "How do I move forward now?"

Draco smiled slightly at me, making my heart beat faster. "Ginger didn't define you before, don't let her now. Take time to figure out the person you have become because, at the end of the day, you're the only one who can. Just remember, Harry, you're not alone. You have your friends, you have Teddy…" He paused before adding quietly, "and you have me, I'll be here no matter what." I beamed at him in response, causing his own smile to widen.

"Thanks, Draco, who knew you had become so philosophical." His eyes shone with amusement and we both muffled snickers. Instead of turning away, we both stayed facing each other, slowly drifting off with the comfort of knowing that the other one was there.

"What the fuck is happening here!?" Ron's shriek pierced through the haze that had blanketed my senses and I shot upright, frantically scrambling around for my glasses. Once the cold metal met my fingertips, I shoved them on, sharpening the tense scene into perfect clarity. I cringed inwardly at Ron's red face, half thinking it would be worth it taking off my glasses and throwing everything into a blur again.

Hermione was standing opposite Ron with her hands outstretched and jaw locked determinedly, looking for all the world ready to forcibly stop him from entering any further if necessary. Leo was blinking quickly from where he was sitting on top of one of the workbenches and looked slightly confused to find that he held a spanner tightly in one hand. Percy and Annabeth, on the other hand, were still seated on the floor with calm expressions gracing their faces. Percy, however, did seem to have a hand inching slowly towards his pocket. None of that mattered to Ron though, whose blazing eyes were fixed on me, or more specifically, the blond who was sitting next to me. A slight pink tinge was creeping up the back of Draco's neck as he held the redhead's gaze, his face carefully blank. Quickly I realised that during the night, Draco and I had gravitated towards each other, resulting in us sharing blankets with one of my arms still outstretched towards where he had previously lain.

I scrambled hastily into a seated position and struggled to push back the blush I felt heating up my face. Ron drew in a sharp breath and repeated his question roughly, "What. The. Fuck. Is happening?" Hermione took a small step forward and said in a placating tone,

"Leo needed some help understanding the runes on his blueprints and he asked me to help and I suggested that Draco assist us as well, considering his skill in Ancient Runes." A beat of silence followed before she added quickly, "We ended up working late so we just slept here."

Ron's face had steadily drained of colour, the milky paleness contrasting horribly with his vivid hair. "I see." He said haltingly, "I only came here because you all missed breakfast and I needed to talk to Harry." The words sounded awkward and forced and it was obvious that Ron was trying spectacularly hard not to combust then and there.

I jumped to my feet and ran a hand through my hair. I briefly glanced down at Draco before turning back to Ron, "Let's go talk now. I'll meet you in the common room in ten minutes." Ron nodded stiffly and marched out of the room, slamming the door loudly behind him.

An obvious sigh of relief was released by the remaining occupants and Hermione was quick to turn her concerned gaze on me. "Harry, you don't have to go if you don't want to. You know what Ron's like, he'll overthink a situation, overreact and then eventually come to his senses. You could just give him time?" She was worrying her bottom lip between her teeth and I hurried over, closing her gently into a hug. Gratitude for my friend's concern welled warm within me and I smiled into her bushy hair.

"It's ok 'Mione, It'll be better if I talk to him now." I pulled back and grabbed my invisibility cloak from where it had fallen the previous night. Standing up, I walked over to Draco and handed it to him. "Just because Ron knows you're here, doesn't mean that everyone needs to." The blond looked at me gratefully and took the cloak, also accepting the hand that I had offered to help him up.

"I'm sorry if I made things worse." Draco's words were quiet and hesitant, obviously worrying about the friendships he had only just started to form.

Leo snorted and threw the spanner back onto the workbench, "Worse? Hades no. Without you and Hermione it would've been impossible to understand half of those runes. Sure, Annabeth is brilliant, but it doesn't hurt to have two more geniuses in the room." Everyone nodded their agreement.

I placed my hand gently on Draco's shoulder, squeezing slightly as I stated, "Don't worry about it, Ron will get over it and everything will be fine." I glanced around at the others quickly and then back at the door, releasing a soft sigh at the prospect of the inevitable conversation awaiting me downstairs. "I have to go. Ron will be waiting for me. Save me some breakfast?" I directed a slight grin at my friends and squeezed Draco's shoulder gently, turning my smile upon him.

With growing dread, I exited the work station and quickly grabbed a set of new robes. Ten minutes later I was hurrying down the spiral staircase leading to the common room, face and hair still slightly wet from my quick shower. A strained silence greeted me and I glanced slowly around the room at the faces that were turned away in an attempt to look like they weren't eavesdropping. Ron was sitting stiffly at his favourite chair next to the fire, surrounded by our roommates and the other demigods. I winced when I saw Ginny's bright hair opposite Ron. Hazel glanced up at the sudden quiet and smiled brightly when she spotted me. The other demigods waved and I saw seven pairs of eyes quickly flick up in the general direction of the boy's dorms then back at me. I nodded subtly and headed towards Ron, ignoring the way that both redheads tensed at my approach.

"Let's go outside."


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N - IMPORTANT. So, I realised that earlier on I contradicted myself in regards to certain details. I said that the astronomy tower and quidditch pitch were out-of-bounds and then literally a chapter later I had the characters go to _both_ of those locations. So, sorry about that. Also, I said that the demigods were from an American school that focused on different magic. I'm taking that all back: the astronomy tower and quidditch pitch can/will be used and obviously, the main characters know about the demigods' real identities, the rest of the school, however, thinks that they are exchange students. Hopefully, the quality of my writing has improved! Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter Eighteen – The Intrusion**

 ***Harry POV***

Ron followed me silently out of the common room and towards the lake. Both of our bodies were tight with tension and anticipation, each unsure how the other would react to this upcoming conversation. Eventually, we reached the edge of the silvery water. I sunk to ground cross-legged and waited until Ron hesitantly sat next to me. We remained silent for a few minutes until I spoke.

"I'm sorry that I shouted at Ginny in the common room. I didn't mean to cause a scene, I was just so angry at that point that common sense left me…" Ron stayed silent as I talked, explaining the last few months and the accumulation of emotions and confusion that led to my eventual explosion. I explained the issue with the runes and how we got Draco to help us and I finished by saying, "Ron, please believe me when I say that I never wanted to hurt Ginny the way I did. I honestly feel horrible. But the worst thing about it was that you stopped talking to me and I didn't know how to explain it to you – how you would react." I fell silent, anxiously watching my best friend's reaction.

He didn't look at me, instead focusing on the reflection of the clouds in the water. Minutes passed and I began to worry that I had truly fucked up this time. Just when I thought my heart couldn't take the stress anymore, Ron stated slowly, "I'm not impressed that you basically led my sister on for months…" My heart stuttered and I winced but Ron wasn't done, "…but I understand that what you're going through is hard. Harry, you should know by now that you can tell me anything and if not me, then Hermione. Does she know?" He glared at me questioningly and I shook my head. "Mate, I don't care if you like girls or boys, I just want you to be happy. Truthfully, I'm glad that you and Ginny are through, it wasn't healthy for either of you." I glanced at him in surprise as he continued, "I just wish you had managed to end it in a different way." He stood up lightly and reached a hand down to help me up. "Just know that I'm here for you Harry, you're my best mate and I'll help however I can, as long as you talk to me."

I grinned widely and tugged my friend into a hug, "Thanks Ron, that means a lot to me."

He smiled in return and then turned back towards the castle. "Let's go to lunch, I'm starving." I laughed and started walking as Ron clapped a strong hand on my shoulder, squeezing once before releasing me. "Say, Harry…" I glanced at his face to see that it was serious again.

"Yeah?"

"Does this mean I'll have to play nice with the ferret now?" His face changed into a teasing grin and I laughed again and shook my head slightly.

"Come on Ron, let's deal with that _after_ you've eaten." We both laughed and trudged smoothly towards the castle, mouths watering at the smells wafting through the double doors.

 ***Hermione POV***

I raised my head as Ron and Harry waltzed into the hall, laughing loudly, any traces of anger and discomfit gone. I beamed at them as they took the seats opposite me and starting piling food onto their plates.

"Did you guys have a nice talk?" They both looked up and met my eyes, smirking slightly between mouthfuls of food.

"We cleared the air of a few issues and are now thankfully on the same page." I beamed again at Ron's response, reaching across the table to grab my boyfriend's hand and squeezing gently. "Although," he continued with a quick glance at Harry, "I think the three of us need to sit down and have a good chat." Harry nodded and it was obvious that something important had been discussed between the two boys. I opened my mouth to reply but was cut off by my brother's loud shout.

"FOOD!" Percy dropped heavily into the seat next to mine and gleefully began pulling dishes towards him. Between him and Ron, they could eat most of the dishes within arm's reach. Annabeth smirked and shook her head slightly at her boyfriend's antics while claiming the seat beside him. The other demigods fanned out around us and eagerly began to eat.

"Leo, how much more is left before the blueprints are able to be followed?" Frank voiced suddenly, lightly buttering a roll at the same time.

Leo didn't answer immediately, his face screwed up in concentration as he focused on the small flame in his hand, holding a concoction that seemed to be an untoasted s'more in his other hand. He carefully rotated the marshmallow sandwich while saying, "I think if the brainiacs take one more look at it, we should be ready. We managed to translate the majority of it last night, enough that I can start gathering the required materials and tools." He glanced up quickly at Ron and added, "I think it'll be beneficial if we get Draco to check it again as well, just to be sure." The others seemed to hold their breath while waiting to see how the redhead would react. To everyone's surprise, he nodded and said enthusiastically,

"Sounds good, if the ferret can assist us then we might as well take all the help we can get. Besides," he added with a slight smirk in Harry's direction, "I need to speak with Malfoy anyway. Clear the air, you know?" My shocked face was reflected on the other demigods', only Harry wasn't looking shocked. Instead, he had his head down and a slight flush was making its way up the back of his neck as he shovelled food into his mouth.

"That's settled then! After lunch, we'll grab Draco and go have another look at the blueprints." Nods followed Annabeth's words and the blond turned to Piper, grey eyes gleaming. "Do you think you can deal with the other people in the common room? It'll be easier if we didn't have hexes flying at the sight of Draco."

Piper's kaleidoscope eyes shone brightly at the possibilities, "Sure, I can go in first and talk to them then you can bring Draco in. That way no one will get hu –" Her words were cut as Professor McGonagall stood up suddenly and called the room to silence.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your meal but I have an announcement. Afternoon classes have been cancelled. Can the Heads of Houses please escort your students back to their respective common rooms immediately." Loud chatter broke out throughout the hall as students rose to their feet, waiting for instructions from their Heads of Houses. I rose alongside the others when Professor McGonagall materialised out of the crowd in front of the demigods.

"I need you all to follow me. Now." My heart constricted as we all looked at each, confusion and fear evident on our faces. Professor McGonagall quickly marched towards the doors, effectively clearing a path through the students for the demigods, with Harry, Ron and I following. As we reached the entrance, I saw Harry dart his arm out and grab Draco's arm, the other boy having been waiting with his house for the Headmistress to pass. With a slight tug, Draco joined our procession, much to the confusion of the students.

"What's going on? Where are we going?" I heard him mutter to Harry.

"I don't know, just stay with us." Was the whispered reply.

As one, we made our way through the giant double doors into the entrance hall and out onto the snow-covered grounds. I glanced around at our group: Leo and Percy were whispering rapidly behind Annabeth and Piper, who were following the professor closely. Frank and Hazel were walking hand in hand beside Nico and Will and I noted that despite the boys' calm posture, Will had wrapped a tanned arm around his boyfriend's waist protectively. I felt a warm hand grab my own and glanced over to see Ron's lanky figure fall into step beside me. I sent a small smile towards him and turned back to our friends. Reyna and Thalia were still with us, having planned on leaving tomorrow after lunch. Both their faces were set into scowls and they were muttering quietly to each other, hands resting gently on their respective weapons. Harry and Draco had caught up to us and Harry sent me a questioning glance.

I focused back on the direction in which we were heading. On our right, the Forbidden Forest stood guard, silent except for the slight rustling of leaves. The expansive gleam of ice painted the left side of the grounds, birds and other daring creatures sitting lightly atop the frozen surface. At first I thought that we were heading towards Hagrid's hut but instead, Professor McGonagall strode straight past it and headed towards the metal gates in the distance. I grabbed Harry's hand and increased our speed, tugging both boys forward with Draco following until we were level with the Headmistress.

"Professor! What's going on? Why are we heading towards the gates?" Professor McGonagall's eyes widened slightly when she saw Harry, Ron, Draco and I but she didn't seem all that surprised.

That was confirmed when she muttered shallowly, "I'm not surprised that you three followed us." Turning her head slightly, she glanced quizzically at Draco, "Mr Malfoy, on the other hand…Hmm…I suppose you do have a habit of getting involved wherever Mr Potter is concerned." She smirked slightly as Draco's pale face gained a slight pink tinge and continued walking, not answering my questions.

Eventually, we neared the gates and through the fog, I could make out the hazy outlines of what I was sure were people. Professor McGonagall stopped before we got close enough to identify the figures and raised a hand, causing the rest of us to halt and stumble slightly. She looked down her nose through her spectacles at the demigods but her expression was soft, concerned even, very different from the stern expression she usually wore. "This will be a surprise to you all and I urge every one of you to listen carefully before we continue." She waited until every head had nodded in confirmation before continuing, "Shortly after lunch started, I was notified that there was a disturbance of the wards. Now, you should all know that it is impossible to apparate or disapparate within the boundaries of Hogwarts. Which is why this occurrence is more peculiar." She glanced quickly at Nico, "I am aware that Mr Di Angelo is capable of alternative means of travelling and, considering recent events," A sharp look was sent to Reyna and Thalia, "I believe that this occurrence is a result of similar factors." She paused briefly, her lips pressing into a thin, disapproving line, "I received a message from an old acquaintance requesting entry to the school. Apparently, there is someone here who desperately wants to see you, or more specifically, Mr Jackson and Miss Granger." Shocked gasps echoed around the group as everyone turned to look at me and my very confused brother. A spark was growing in his eyes and I suspected that he was beginning to gain an understanding of what was happening.

Professor McGonagall glanced at us with a surprisingly soft expression. "I have accepted the request and will allow all of you to spend the remainder of the day with them." My friends starting muttering quietly and I looked towards Percy, reaching out to grab his arm tightly.

"Professor," Annabeth began, "why did you cancel all classes if only Percy and Hermione were requested?" Everyone turned to the older woman who sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose with her thumb and pointer finger.

"I cancelled the lessons, Miss Chase because when the wards were disturbed, the visitors were not the only ones to enter the school grounds." She paused again and took in the worried faces of her students, "It seems that some _unwanted_ guests have also arrived. The staff and I will be attempting to deal with them while you escort the visitors to the castle. I asked all of you to follow so that you may help protect them from whoever – or whatever – has broken through."

Silence followed her words and I gripped Percy's arm tighter, my mind full of the monsters that they had mentioned weeks ago. I turned back to the gates and strained to see who was waiting there. Professor McGonagall followed my line of sight and indicated that Percy and I could go closer. Hesitantly, we drew closer to the looming metal barrier, gripping each other tightly in anticipation and fear. I could sense the others following slightly behind us but didn't look back, my eyes were fixed on three figures that had materialised out of the fog and I heard Percy draw in a sharp breath.

"Mum."

My heart stopped beating as Percy pulled me towards the gate, the fog clearing enough that I could finally see the details of the people who were standing in front of them. One of the visitors was a centaur; he had brown hair and eyes and his lower body was that of a white stallion. On his left side was a tall, middle-aged man with salt and pepper hair. The similarly aged woman standing beside him had long, curly, dark-brown hair quite similar to mine, warm blue eyes and a pretty, kind-looking face. In her arms was a small bundle and my breath caught as a tiny hand reached up to grab a loose brown curl.

Three sets of eyes snapped towards us at Percy's exclamation and each face broke into matching broad smiles. Percy practically ran the last few metres between us and released my arm to launch himself gently at the woman, circling her small body within his arms while being mindful of the baby at her chest. I heard the others cry out happily behind me and turned to see Piper, Nico, Leo, Will, Frank, Hazel, Reyna, Thalia and Annabeth rush towards the centaur – whose name I distantly remembered being Chiron – and take turns hugging him. Harry, Ron and Draco hung back before they were ushered forward by Annabeth to greet him.

By this time, Percy had pulled back from the woman and given the man a tight hug before releasing him and coming back to take my shaking hand. The other conversations died down slightly as he led me towards the beaming couple. "Mum," Percy's voice shook slightly with emotion, "it's Hermione."

Tears were streaming down my mother's face – a face that I hadn't seen since I was ten. Memories came rushing back to me in a wave: Percy, her and I in the kitchen laughing, her comforting us after Gabe got angry, the two of us lying on my bed reading a book. I felt tears flow down my cheeks as I realised that I had nearly forgotten my mother's face. Sally gently handed the bundle over to the man – who I had guessed to be Paul that Percy mentioned weeks ago – and reached for me, folding me in a tight embrace. We were both sobbing as we clung to each other and I was vaguely aware of Percy speaking fondly to the baby and Paul, tears streaking down his own face.

"Oh, my sweetheart, I've missed you so, so much!" I sobbed harder and burrowed my face into my mother's soft hair, the hair that I had inherited. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop crying. I was so happy and yet so sad; eight years of our lives together had been ripped away from us. Eventually, I was able to calm my breathing, savouring the feeling of her warm hand stroking my hair and back soothingly. I pulled away but kept my hands locked tightly in hers.

"Mum, I've missed you so much. I thought I wouldn't be able to see you again. I never heard anything and I had no idea if you were ok or not and then suddenly Percy arrived and told me everything that had happened – " I cut off to bury my head in her shoulder again, sobs wracking my body.

"Shhh, it's ok sweetie. I'm here, I love you." My mumbled reply to her soft words was lost in her shoulder. I released her and finally turned my attention to the man who had stood beaming beside us, pride evident on his face as one hand rested on Percy's shoulder (who was now holding the tiny baby). Sally took his free hand and turned back to me. "Hermione, this is Paul Blofis, my husband. Paul, this is my daughter Hermione." Paul beamed at me and pulled me into a warm hug.

"Sally has told me so much about you, I'm sorry we couldn't have met earlier. From what I've heard, you're the child that inherited her mother's brains." I laughed at Percy's mock offended expression and gripped my stepfather tighter. I appreciated the attempt at humour, however incorrect it may seem.

Percy smiled at me brightly after I released Paul and walked forward slowly. "'Mione, this is Estelle. Our little sister." I looked down at the bundle of blankets and met wide, bright blue eyes. Estelle already had some tufts of dark hair on her head and was smiling widely at the attention she was getting. I started when Percy passed her to me, carefully situating her in my arms. Mum, Paul and Percy all had matching smiles and teary eyes when they looked at me and I was sure that my face reflected theirs.

I looked away from our little family and saw all my friends watching us happily. Annabeth ran forward to hug Sally and Paul and then went to stand next to Percy, who had situated himself on our mother's other side, one hand grasped tightly in hers. I met Harry and Ron's eyes and silently willed them to come closer. Hesitantly, they approached and smiled down at Estelle. She giggled slightly and squirmed, freeing another hand before reaching up and gently patting my jaw. She turned towards my boyfriend and best friend and giggled again, reaching towards them. I heard Percy telling Sally, Paul and Chiron who they were and introducing them to Professor McGonagall.

"Hermione, she's adorable." Harry's face was bright as he gazed down at my sister, one of his fingers grasped tightly in her small fist. He turned around and beckoned Draco closer with his free hand. The other boy stiffened but approached wearily. He paused a few feet away and Harry grabbed his hand, tugging the blond closer. Fear sparked behind silver irises but soon drained away to be replaced by awe. Draco gasped slightly when Estelle's other hand latched tightly onto one of his fingers and his face broke into a beautiful smile.

"I've never…She's so tiny. What's her name?" Draco stuttered.

"Estelle." I glanced at mum for a second and saw her nod her head, looking pointedly at Draco. "Do you want to hold her?"

Immediately, Draco's face transformed; fear and worry radiating off the boy. "Wha…what? What if I hurt her? No…no…no…I…I can't. Hermione – " His protests were cut off as I gently placed my sister in the curve of his arms. Instinctually, he tightened them slightly and propped her small, fuzz-covered head up so that she could stare at all of us with wide, sparkling eyes.

"See, nothing to worry about." I stated, smirking slightly at the blonde. Harry was grinning madly beside him and I saw something flicker behind his emerald eyes. My smirk deepened as Percy sauntered over and clapped Draco lightly on the shoulder.

"I always knew you had a soft side." Everyone laughed slightly at the matching, unimpressed expressions on both Draco and Estelle's faces.

I turned my attention away from my cooing friends as Chiron approached. "My dear, it is wonderful to see you again." He pulled me into a gentle hug as I agreed, wiping my eyes quickly after I let go.

"I think it would be best if we head back to the castle now, I'm unaware of the exact nature of the other intrusions." Professor McGonagall's words jolted us out of our happy daze. I watched as all the demigods brought out a variety of weapons, banding together to form a tight circle around Sally, Paul, Draco, Estelle and I. Draco carefully handed Estelle back to my mum and drew his wand, falling into place between Harry and Ron. I made no attempt to join them and instead stood beside my mother, wand drawn. Will positioned himself beside Paul, one hand clasping his bow, the other clenching and unclenching slowly.

Annabeth and Percy led the group quickly up the path towards the school, heads turning in every direction, searching for any sign of the intruders. We managed to make it within one hundred metres of the double doors before the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. "DUCK!" I grabbed my mum's arm and pulled her down to the ground with me and saw Will do the same with Paul. A large, bat-like figure swooped over us, screeching loud enough to bring Estelle to tears.

Frank and Will were quick to fire arrows at the retreating beast while the wizards and I shot stunning spells. Frank's arrow found its mark in the creature's left wing and caused it to veer heavily into the side of the castle. Another arrow followed swiftly behind and imbedded itself in the creature's head. I watched as Annabeth raced forward and sliced at its neck, stumbling away as it began to crumble into yellow dust.

"What on earth was that thing?!" Ron exclaimed, breathing heavily and looking around for more potential threats.

"It was a Fury." Nico paused and looked towards the horizon. "I don't know how it was able to attack us, my father has control over them."

"Ah, Nico. I think your father may be having difficulty with his pets." Leo commented, unaware that his hair was now a flaming mop. He flinched at the glare that Nico sent him in return.

"Er, guys…Is it just me or is that cloud getting bigger and closer?" Despite having the worst vision out of all of us, Harry was somehow the first to notice the dark mass steadily moving across the sky towards the school.

Frank's eyes suddenly changed to those of an eagle and his face drained of colour. "We need to move! NOW!" As one, we all raced towards the front steps and barged through the heavy oak doors. Professor McGonagall waved her wand in a complicated pattern and the distinctive sound of heavy locks clicking closed was heard. She spun around and sent her patronus leaping down the halls.

"Everyone will gather in the Great Hall to prepare themselves. Mr Zhang, what were those creatures?" All eyes turned to Frank as he grasped Hazel's hand tightly.

"Professor, I definitely saw groups of Stymphalian birds, more furies, a few manticores and at least ten _things_ that I didn't recognise…" He stopped and shuddered, "They looked like dragons…"

"Ugh, are you shitting me right now? I have seriously had enough of dragons for one lifetime." Nods accompanied Harry's words but we were soon distracted by the sound of hundreds of feet thundering throughout the corridors. "We should move." We followed Harry and Professor McGonagall into the Great Hall without hesitation and sat down at the far end of the Gryffindor table, closest to the teachers. I noticed that Draco flinched slightly at the seating, smiling sheepishly at me when I caught his eye.

"I'm not used to sitting at other tables." He admitted quietly opposite me.

"Yeah well, I think we have bigger issues than seating plans, unfortunately." Ron replied, glancing around at the gradually filling hall. Most students did a doubletake at the sight of Chiron but simply settled into their seats, whispering loudly and sending questioning looks towards Professor McGonagall, who now stood in front of the wooden podium.

Once the noise in the hall had settled to a relatively normal volume, Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and announced clearly, "I'm sorry to wrench you all away from your free afternoon but there have been multiple intrusions of the wards and I am afraid to say that Hogwarts is, once again, under attack." Whispers and gasps bounced off the walls as students turned towards their neighbour, fear settling as a heavy blanket upon the students. I saw most of the older students sitting stiffly with pale, blank faces, eyes searching for something indiscernible.

I caught Blaise's eye and he glanced sharply in Draco's direction, questions burning in his brown eyes. I quickly shook my head and held up a finger, telling him to wait until after the Headmistress had finished.

"The creatures that are nearing are none that we have ever dealt with before. That is why it is _essential_ for _all_ students who are not of age to remain here. The teachers, older students and I will hold the monsters back until help arrives." Professor McGonagall gazed down at the sea of scared faces until her eyes rested softly upon Harry, Ron, Draco and me. "I am aware that some of you have fought much more than you should have during your short lives." She swept her eyes across the gathered demigods. "That means that it is ok if any of you are unable to fight alongside us; stay here and help protect the younger students. We will do everything in our power to hold off these creatures for as long as possible." A tension-laced silence followed, fear stealing the words out of the students' mouths.

With one final glance at her students, the Headmistress swept down towards our group. "You know what you need to do." She said heavily, placing a gentle hand upon Harry and Percy's shoulders. "I will join you once I have sorted out the situation in here. I wish you all luck." Nodding determinedly at her, Percy rose, quickly followed by the others. I turned and gripped my mother tightly, praying to all the gods to let us all return safely.

"Goodbye, Estelle, I'll see you soon." I whispered to my sister, stroking her small face slowly. I turned and hugged Paul and then quickly rose to join the others. Faces turned towards us as we began to make our way towards the Entrance hall.

To our utter surprise, quick footsteps rang out in the silence and we were soon joined by a group of Slytherins. Blaise, Pansy, Theodore Nott, Daphne Greengrass and Goyle all smirked widely at us and Blaise flung his arm around Draco's shoulders. "As if we would walk away from this fight. We learnt our lesson last time." He smirked wider at our shocked faces and turned to glance behind us. "Looks like we're not alone either."

I turned around to see every returning eighth year walking towards us, wands drawn and faces set. Following closely behind them were students who were obviously of age and I smiled when I saw Ginny and Luna amongst them. We all hurried out into the Entrance hall, closing the doors to the Great hall with a bang that cut off Professor McGonagall's next instructions.

Annabeth and Percy shared a glance before Annabeth stepped forward, addressing the group of rugged teenagers. "I'm not going to lie to you, this will be extremely dangerous. We're going to be dealing with monsters that have killed much more experienced people than us. What we need to remember is to always have each other's backs, no matter what." She paused and took a deep breath, "I don't know how many of you know who we really are, so I will give you the short version. We are demigods, the sons and daughters of various Greek and Roman gods and goddesses. Before you laugh and claim us insane, look outside and see the monsters drawing closer. They aren't from your world, they're from ours. We will be fighting alongside you all as fellow students and we need you to trust us. Two students should remain here and help protect the younger students should we fail outside. The rest of us will take positions in front of the doors and fight with everything we have." Two students from the year below offered to stay inside with the younger students, they quickly re-entered the hall to relay the plan to McGonagall. "Let's go."

Annabeth and Percy led the way outside and began organising the fighters into strong lines with the help of Reyna and Frank. The demigods were dispersed throughout, with Percy being closest to the water. I found myself standing at the front with Blaise on one side and Harry and Draco on the other. The dark cloud of beasts was so close now that I could distinguish the individual monsters. Frank was right, there were dragon-like creatures, except they didn't have back legs, instead, their body ended like a snake's. _Wyverns_. I called out to Annabeth, telling her about the creatures and she scowled, gripping her drakon-bone blade tighter.

The doors opened and slammed shut again behind us as Professor McGonagall joined us at the front. The creatures were nearly within an arrow's reach and we all stood ready, barely breathing as they flew the last few metres and a _twang_ of a bowstring was heard.

Then all hell broke loose.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N - I am so sorry for the hiatus. I can't really offer any reasons except that I am horrible with time management and prioritising. Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter Nineteen – The Confession**

 ***Percy POV***

Everywhere I turned was a whirlwind of flying spells, yellow dust and limbs moving in every direction. Chaos reigned upon the hastily assembled students; monsters landing heavily to charge them or flying high out of their reach. Vaguely, I was aware of Annabeth fighting beside me, our moves perfectly synchronised from years of experience. I saw Leo throwing fireball after fireball at the most flammable attackers while Piper flowed around him in a deadly dance, slicing and stabbing at anything that got too close. I dimly heard a piercing roar and turned to see a large, red dragon leap towards the onslaught of wyverns. Hazel was fighting fearlessly alongside Hermione, covering my sister as she shot spell after deadly spell at the beasts. Everyone was delightfully surprised to discover that Stupefy, Reducto and Depulso were all extremely effective against the monsters, with some spells doing enough damage to destroy multiple creatures with one hit.

Harry, Ron and the other wizards were managing to hold their own so I turned back to the battle. I lost track of time as I ducked, slashed and dived, getting showered with a mixture monster dust and gore.

Just when I thought we may have been gaining the upper hand, I heard a bloodcurdling shriek and spun around. One of the students was kneeling near the castle steps, head thrown back as a cloaked figure hovered above them, scaly hands reaching towards their neck. I sprung into action, racing up the hill the short distance and jumping past or over any obstacles in front of me.

As I drew nearer to the creature and the student, the temperature around me seemed to drop and suddenly I couldn't breathe. Memories flashed through my mind: my mother's capture, the titan war, Luke's death, Annabeth dying, Tartarus. I collapsed on the ground, screaming, tears streaming down my face. I heard someone scream something and a bright shape erupted before me, charging down the cloaked creature. Familiar hands gripped my face and Annabeth's voice rushed into me.

"Percy! Percy, please wake up! It's not real, I'm here, I'm here." _I'm here…I'm here…I'm here_. With my remaining strength, I opened my eyes fully, gasping loudly as air entered my lungs again.

Annabeth sobbed loudly on my shoulder and gripped me tightly. "Wha…what was that…thing?" I croaked.

"A dementor." Hermione voiced, "It sucks the happiness out of you and makes you relive your worst nightmares." She was nursing what looked to be a broken hand but seemed otherwise fine. I looked around and realised that the battle had ended, all the monsters reduced to yellow dust. My eyes found my friends and scanned them for injuries; Nico being the only other one injured. My initial worry lessened as I took in Will bending over his boyfriend, hands glowing slightly. He caught my eye and nodded, face lit up in a blinding smile.

"We did it." Dean's voice broke through the slight haze still surrounding my sense. "Again."

Harry scoffed slightly and shook his head, the light catching in his dark locks. "I'd say that by now we've all deserved a drink…or five. Come on." Turning, he led the way back up to the castle, limping slightly and leaning on Draco who has appeared at his side. Annabeth helped me up and wrapped her arm around my waist, keeping me steady as we hobbled towards the double doors. All around us was movement as the other students picked themselves up and helped the injured towards the school, laughter floating amongst them as they realised that for now, they were safe.

Some people stopped to stare at our group as we passed but Harry continued on, climbing staircase after staircase until eventually stopping in front of a blank stretch of wall. Wait, no, it wasn't blank anymore…a door has just _appeared_ out of thin air. _I guess I should be used to strange things happening by now,_ I thought with a slight smirk. Annabeth looked at me questioningly and simply shook my head, adjusting so that my arm was over her should.

We entered the room that had appeared and I suddenly remembered that it was the Room of Requirement – the same room that Harry and others had taken us to for the Pars Clava…and the one that Annabeth and I had spent the night in. I felt my cheeks heat up slightly as I remembered the last time I was in this room and was delighted to see Annabeth's do the same.

"Well, that was shit." Ron's blunt comment startled me out of my thoughts, drawing me back to the present. He and Hermione were sitting on a grey love seat and Ron was slowly waving his wand over Hermione's broken hand. Harry was lying on top of a fluffy red carpet, resting his head on a pillow in Draco's lap, who was sitting cross-legged against the dark couch. Nico was stretched out across the couch with Will standing over him again, the pair of them bickering quietly enough that we couldn't hear them. Piper, Leo, Hazel and Frank were all sitting together around a dark, wooden table and sorting through the drinks that Seamus and Dean had placed on them. Another quick glance told me that Reyna and Thalia hadn't come back with us.

"Are the others ok?" I asked, glancing at Draco in particular.

He nodded and began absentmindedly running thin fingers through Harry's hair. "Blaise and the others weren't hurt and went back to the Great Hall with Ginny and Luna to check on the younger students. I told them where we were heading so that they could bring your parents up."

I titled my head in gratitude and settled on a beanbag, Annabeth situating herself in front of me, leaning back against my chest. We all sat in silence for a while, slowly sipping from the bottles which had been passed around. Nico was now sleeping peacefully in Will's arms, the blonde boy looking much more relaxed than before.

The sound of the door opening again brought us out of our stupor and I shot up, walking quickly towards my mother, sister and step-father, Hermione close behind me. I took Estelle from my mother's arms and ran a finger gently over her soft curls, already quite dark. Hermione and mum were talking quietly with Paul and Chiron. Blaise and Pansy had moved over to sit alongside Draco and Harry, Theo and the others having chosen to stay in the hall.

"How did you get here?" I heard Hermione ask Chiron. I slowly walked over to join their conversation, being mindful of the sleeping baby in my arms.

"Well, it's actually a very intriguing story." Chiron began, "Your mother and I had been discussing your disappearance, as well as Reyna and Thalia's departure, and Hermes appeared. He told us where you had been sent and allowed us one visit. Apparently, Poseidon had caused a fuss and the other gods were not willing to intervene, so they allowed us swift passage here."

"We were not meant to stay long; Hermes was very clear on that." Sally's stern gaze turned upon Reyna and Thalia, who had arrived shortly after them. "We are to bring you two back as well. Apparently, you are not required for whatever ridiculous task the others have been roped into." Chiron smothered a cough and turned away while the rest of us shared smirks. Trust mum to not be afraid of the gods' anger. She turned back to Hermione and me, eyes suddenly glistening slightly. "On that note, I'm afraid that our visit is now overdue."

I felt more than saw the dread of departure growing in Hermione, her face shuttering quickly as she held back tears and hugged our mum tightly. "I don't want to say goodbye again."

"Darling, we are not saying goodbye, merely ' _I'll see you soon'_. I trust that we will all be together again soon. You both seem to have a tendency to attract trouble, yet you always overcome it." She clasped my arm gently and held Hermione with the other, "I love you both so much. Come home safely." With those words, she lifted Estelle carefully out of my arms, quickly grasping Annabeth in a one-armed hug before turning back to Chiron and Paul. The goodbyes were quick but heartfelt, more than one person left with gleaming eyes.

Thalia walked up to me and punched me lightly in the arm before wrapping me in a hug. "Stay safe Jackson. I already lost one brother; I don't want to lose another." The whispered words hit me in the gut and all I could do was nod as she stepped away, embracing Annabeth alongside me.

With a final glance around our tearful group, Chiron brought five aquamarine pearls from his pocket and passed them around to Paul, Thalia, Reyna and Sally. As one, they placed them on the ground and with only a slight hesitation, stepped forward and crushed them under their feet. With a bright light and the lasting smell of sea breeze, they were gone. Hermione immediately turned to Ron and sobbed into his shoulder, while Annabeth wrapped me gently into her strong embrace.

"We should go see how the others are." Dean's voice cut through the heavy atmosphere, quickly bringing us back to the situation at hand.

I stepped back from Annabeth but kept a tight hold of her hand. "You're right, let's go."

 ***Harry POV***

The Great Hall was filled with noise when we arrived. Those that had been injured were off to the side with Madame Pomfrey flitting between them. Thankfully, that number was quite small.

I was still reeling from the encounter with Hermione's family, it was unexpected and heart-wrenching to see her obvious pain but it was also gratifying that she got even a short moment with them after all these years.

As I looked around the room, I couldn't help but notice that despite the noise, many people were missing. Luckily, Ron noticed the same thing and called out to Headmistress McGonagall.

"Where's everyone else?"

McGonagall's voice was stern yet soft as she replied, "I have sent the rest of the students back to their common rooms where their Heads will appropriately address them. I suggest that you lot do the same thing." Her gaze swept across all of us and then she turned sharply, quickly heading towards the impromptu infirmary station.

The others turned towards the doors to head back to the common room but I didn't follow. Instead, I grabbed Draco's arm lightly before he could walk away. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

He nodded and then turned towards his friends, muttering something quickly. Pansy and Blaise stared at me for a moment before nodding at Draco and walking towards the doors. Once they were out of sight, Draco turned back to me, curiosity creeping across his features. "What did you need?"

I looked around and starting pulling him gently outside the hall. "Not here." He didn't argue as I led him to a deserted classroom in a corridor off from the hall, just merely sat pristinely atop a desk once as I closed the door.

"So, Harry, why did you feel the need to kidnap me away from the warmth of my bed?" Draco's grey eyes glittered as he smirked at me, crossing his arms over his chest.

I smiled sheepishly back and leant against the desk opposite him. "I wanted to talk to you about something." I faltered and looked away, tracing the dusty cobblestones and trying to ignore my beating heart. A brief silence followed until I heard Draco sigh slightly.

"Usually when one says that they want to talk, they _talk_." I glanced up quickly to catch the small smile on his face fade slightly. "Seriously Harry, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. I just…" I steeled myself and looked into his worried eyes. Already, my heart started beating faster. I had been mentally preparing myself to talk to him for weeks and when the fight happened I knew I had to speak to him. Yet, afterwards we were surrounded by everyone and now was the only free time I had and then I realised that I had spent all this time rambling in my head instead of talking to him and he was looking at me oddly. "I just…Ugh, I don't know how to say this."

He smiled slightly at me and leant forward, causing my already racing heart to begin galloping in my chest. "Just breathe and speak when you're ready." He sat back again and spread his arms, "I won't go anywhere."

I took a deep breath and avoided looking at him, knowing I wouldn't be able to get the words out properly if I was caught in his hypnotic gaze. "I've actually been wanting to talk to you for a few weeks now but, ironically, I haven't been brave enough to pluck up the courage to." _Deep breath, Harry._ "The fight today made me realise that I needed to talk to you because I don't know what will happen if those things come back and you get hurt." I glanced up quickly to see Draco looking at me with an unidentifiable emotion behind his eyes. I held his gaze as I continued shakily, "I would be devastated if you got hurt. I…I really, really enjoy your company and your sarcasm and your humour…and well, _you_. I can't concentrate properly around you because you're just so freaking enchanting and graceful and all I've wanted to do for weeks is tell you that…that I…like…you…Draco. I really like you." I turned away quickly, unable to hold eye contact.

A few stressful moments passed before I felt gentle hands grab my face and turn it forwards. Draco's eyes were bright as he stared at me. "Did you mean it? Do you…do you truly like me, Harry?"

"I meant it."

I watched as his eyes flicked between my lips and eyes and realised that he had gotten close enough that I could count each individual eyelash which outlined the grey orbs which currently had rendered me frozen. "Can I kiss you?" The question was hesitant, a breeze across my lips. I merely nodded and surged forward, wrapping my arms around Draco's waist.

A small sound of surprise escaped his mouth before he leant forward, moving his hands to wrap one around my neck and thread the other through my hair. A low groan rumbled through my throat as his long fingers pulled slightly at my dark locks and I pulled him closer, our bodies aligned.

Our mouths moved together slowly. It was uncoordinated and awkward but I had never been kissed by anyone with half as much passion as Draco. Muscles flexed beneath my fingers as I ran them underneath his white shirt, my hips bucking forward, craving more friction between us. Draco's gasps made heat flood through me and I pulled back slightly to look at his wide-blown pupils and wet lips.

"I guess that answers your question." I gasped.

He didn't reply, instead pressing his groin forward slightly and eliciting a deep groan from me. "I guess it does." He said with a smirk, as he moved his lips slowly across my jaw and down my neck.

"Are we going to do this here?" I panted, slowly moving my hands to his lower back to press him up against me.

Draco's eyes flitted between me and the closed door. With a quick flick of his wand, a locking and silencing charm was put in place. "No one will disturb us." He looked at me and pulled back slightly. "Only if you want to though, I don't want to pressure you into anything." A pink flush has risen in his neck and cheeks and I quickly pulled him forward again, kissing him quickly before speaking.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do this." I captured his lips with my own and he groaned loudly, hands roaming over my body. Ever since I had broken up with Ginny a few weeks ago, I couldn't help but be attracted to Draco. Yes, he was attractive, but he was also kind and generous, funny. I had gotten to know him better than I ever could have before the war and I realised that I really liked him as a person.

I couldn't get over how his body felt against mine and the feel of his hardness against my thigh. Judging from his own hardness pressing into my leg, I knew he was equally affected. Wanting more, I shifted, lining our bodies together so that our groins pressed against each other. Groans escaped both of us as we moved together. I heard Draco muttering curses in my ear and I pushed against him harder, wanting more of the pleasure coursing through my body.

"God, Harry, I'm going to –" Draco cut off as I thrust my hips against his again and he came with a cry, his body shuddering against me. I followed soon after with a cry of my own, which Draco muffled with a deep kiss. We leant against each other, sated and panting heavily.

"If I had known that you were so good at this, I would've kissed you earlier." Draco huffed a laugh at my words and drew back slightly, keeping his arms wrapped around me. I muttered quick cleaning charms and settled again in his arms.

"Despite how comfortable this is, I think our absence will soon be noticed." Draco looked upset as he spoke, running gentle hands through my hair.

"Hmm, I guess that means we'll just have to do this again."

Draco's smile brightened the room as he kissed me quickly. Pulling back, he looked away briefly and asked quietly, "What's going to happen now, Harry?"

I tightened my arms slightly and looked directly into his silver eyes. "I want to spend more time with you and kiss you and go out with you." I raised one hand to brush a loose strand of his blond hair away and continued, "Only if you want to?"

"Will you be telling your friends?"

"Of course. Besides, they already knew I had feelings for you." I said with a sigh.

"Is that right?" The smirk lit up Draco's face as he pressed a chaste kiss to my neck. "So, what shall we call us? Partners? Boyfriends? Lovers?"

I nuzzled into Draco's neck and breathed in his scent. "Boyfriends, definitely boyfriends. I don't want to sound like Victorian sweethearts." Draco snorted and leant back.

"Boyfriends it is." He said with a beaming smile.

I couldn't help but smile back widely, happiness coursing through me.

With one last kiss, Draco released me, keeping hold of my hand. "We should head back before they send out search parties. You know what you Gryffindors are like, always jumping headfirst into danger." A large smile graced his features and I couldn't help but stare as I nodded and allowed myself to be led out of the room.

When we reached the end of the corridor, Draco released my hand, albeit reluctantly. He glanced around and quickly pressed a quick kiss to my lips. "I'll see you tomorrow, Harry." He said with a smile, as he began to walk backwards towards the entrance to the dungeons.

I grinned in return. "See you tomorrow, Draco!"

With that, I turned towards the stairs and began the trek back to the common room, the smile never leaving my face.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty – The Planning**

 ***Percy POV***

We were all lounging in the common room when Harry strolled through the portrait hole. One look at his mussed hair and the large smile adorning his face, told me all I needed to know. This was only proven when he approached us, practically skipping with joy, and clapped for our attention.

"Wake up. I have an announcement!" Those of us who had been dosing shot awake, all eyes turning towards Harry. He took a deep breath and, still beaming, exclaimed, "Now I know that this may be a surprise to most of you but over the last few months I've gotten really close with Draco and I really fancy him." He paused, trying to gauge initial reactions. When no one started spitting or fainting, he continued, "and after the fight today, I realised just how much he meant to me and I asked him to be my boyfriend."

"Seems like you did slightly more than just that," Nico muttered with a smirk.

Harry flushed bright pink and didn't catch our eyes as he said, his voice slightly higher than before, "So I wanted to tell you all because it means a lot to me and him and I wanted to make sure you knew." He watched us tentatively.

I decided to put the poor guy out of his misery and jumped up, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and messing up his already tragically tangled hair. "Aw man, I'm so happy for you both. Good job for finally plucking up the courage to tell him." I smirked at his gaping mouth and shook him slightly, causing a laugh to escape him. Soon everyone was roaring with laughter, the air free from all tension.

"Mate, you know none of us has an issue with you dating Draco, right?" Ron piped up from the opposite couch. Harry looked around as everyone nodded their agreement, Nico and Will even going as far as pointing at the two of them with incredulous looks on their faces.

"Thanks, guys, that means a lot to me." Harry had sunk into a couch next to Hermione and was soon wrapped in a suffocating hug featuring a mouthful of hair.

"So now that we have the good news done, any bad news?" Piper voiced.

Leo coughed slightly and rose from the couch. "Uh yeah…about that. Um, give me a second." With that, he sprinted up the stairs leading to the dormitories.

Everyone shared confused glances but before anyone could ask any questions, Leo was racing back down the stairs, a small bronze globe about the size of an apple in his hand. "Ta-da!" He cried, raising the _thing_ above his hands, "A trap fit for a god!".

"You finished it?" Annabeth shrieked. " _When_?"

"Well," Leo began, stalking towards us. "After we managed to translate the blueprints, I started on the design. It was pretty simple actually. The problem was that one of the parts I needed wasn't available at the school or anywhere basically – fresh dragon hide, or something equivalent, to line the inside of the trap. During the fight, I managed to grab enough to finish it." He started pacing as he explained the technical properties required of the hide and how it enhanced the durability of the trap due to the strength and magical qualities of it. Ron's eyes glazed over slightly along with mine before Piper shouted at Leo.

"Leo! Is it done?" Everyone held their breath, praying to all deities that our task could finally be completed.

"Yes."

 ***Leo POV***

We immediately started planning. Draco had arrived from the Slytherin common room after Harry sent a patronus asking for his help, gaining our group more than a few looks from the others remaining in the common room. I was currently trying to explain to him, Annabeth and Hermione how the trap worked.

"So basically, once it detects his presence near it, it will…suck…him into it and permanently lock? And only the one who made it can open it again?" Hermione's face was screwed up in thought as she repeated what I had been explaining to them for over an hour.

"Yes." I huffed, running my hands down my face. "All we need to do is ensure that Pompey gets close enough that the device opens. If all goes well, he will get pulled in and won't be able to get out without me releasing him. Sort of like a genie in a bottle." Hermione and Annabeth's faces lit up with understanding while Draco muttered to himself (" _genie?")._

I turned back to the others who were trying to form a plan to capture Pompey's attention.

"We already figured out that a large blast of power will draw him to us. This means that everyone with powers will need to release them at the same time but _only_ once we have set the trap. We don't know how long it will take for Pompey to detect the power surge and investigate. Once he does, we get him close enough to the trap for it to contain him." Percy highlighted again.

"What about those without powers?" Annabeth questioned.

"You'll be there protecting us in case something goes wrong or if Pompey decides to bring a few friends," Percy replied.

"Should we get the professors involved? They would be able to help us channel our power as well as providing their own." Harry asked, looking between everyone. I knew we were all thinking the same thing: is it worth getting others involved if it could all go wrong?

Hermione finally answered; her words slow but thoughtful. "I think it would be beneficial having them involved. Not only will they offer additional protection, having their powers mix with ours will help cover up the magical signatures. That way the demigods won't be immediately identified and it would seem more like a sudden fight than a trap."

"That could definitely work," Annabeth stated. "The next question is where do set this thing up?"

Harry was the one to speak this time, in a quiet voice which sounded like he would rather be suggesting anywhere but where he was. "We do it in the forest. There's a clearing we can use that's far away enough from the school and should be able to hide all of us." Hermione and Ron shot their friend matching looks of worry.

"Harry are you sure?" Hermione said nervously, "We can find another place."

"Yeah mate, I'm sure there are plenty of other clearings we can use," Ron added.

"No, we don't have time to look for others. I know where this one is and it'll work. It's fine." Harry adamantly stated, brushing off his friends' worry.

"What's wrong with that clearing?" Frank asked hesitantly,

Hermione and Ron turned again to Harry, worry and something like devastation etched on their faces as he sighed and looked towards us. "It's where I died."

Harry's admission was still reeling through my head hours after our group separated. Draco had taken him aside before he left and had simply embraced him tightly, whispering in his ear. Harry had replied with a soft kiss before bidding his boyfriend goodnight and turning back to us. The others had then decided we would need a good night's sleep if we wanted to attempt to trap a god the next day.

Instead of going to bed, I decided I wanted to check over the trapping device once more. Yet, instead of working on it, I had been sitting here staring for hours, Harry's words running through my head.

I couldn't remember what it was like to die. I remember feeling pain and then nothing – just black. And then Festus had woken me up. This only led me to think about Jason again and what he was feeling when he died. He probably thought he would meet me in Elysium, as he never got the opportunity to know that I was alive and safe. Tears pricked my eyes as I placed my elbows on the table and rested my hands in my upturned palms.

The soft click of the door opening made me snap my head up. "Percy told me you were in here and might have wanted to talk." I wasn't even surprised that Percy had sent Harry to me, he probably didn't even explain and simply shoved the other boy towards the door.

I gestured towards one of the other chairs near the workbench and Harry sat down. "I died as well. To stop Gaia." I glanced at Harry and saw quiet contemplation instead of any judgment, so I continued. "I don't remember what it was like. Just darkness and then…I was awake." I shook my head and groaned in frustration. "And now all I can think about is Jason and what he was thinking when he died. He didn't get to see that I was alive." I ended quietly, meeting Harry's emerald gaze. Understanding flooded his eyes as he nodded and leant back.

"When I…died…" He sighed quietly and glanced towards the door as if seeing directly through the wood to our sleeping friends. "The spell didn't kill me – just a piece of Voldemort's soul which was attached to mine. Draco's mum saved me by lying, saying I was dead. And then I had to pretend I was dead. Hagrid was forced to pick me up and take me back to the castle." He stared through the window at the forest, as if he could see himself lying prone in the half-giant's arms as they made their way towards the school. "Everyone believed I was dead…I could hear them crying and calling my name and yet I couldn't do anything. I had to wait until the right moment to reveal myself." He turned back to me, shaking off the memory. "Those moments were some of the worst in my life. Being there, hearing my friend's screams and being unable to tell them I was ok." I was sitting quietly, letting him finish. "I know that afterwards, I got what you didn't, but I know what it feels like…that…helplessness. It goes away, eventually. I just had to keep reminding myself that they were ok – we were ok."

I understood what he was saying: despite those who had died, we had to remember those who had lived and were still living – still surviving. I looked back towards the boy who wasn't that much older than me. "Thanks, mate."

"No problem." He gave me a lopsided smile and clapped me on the back. "Now I think you should get some sleep; we can't have our main guy falling asleep mid trap." We both laughed and made our way back into the dormitory. Tomorrow was going to be the deciding day – the day where we'd either win…or lose.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N** \- **Hi everyone! I have to apologise again for the hiatus I've been in. Hopefully, this makes up for it!**

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty-One – The Finale**

 ***Percy POV***

Well, it started off fine. We all gathered in the forest clearing; teachers, students, demigods – a combined force. The trap was laid out across the grass, invisible strands of metal spanning out, ready to snap closed in a second.

"Leo are you sure that thing will hold Pompey?" Frank asked from the tree he was currently situated in. It had previously been decided that only Nico, Leo, Hazel, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco and I would be the bait. The others would stay hidden on the sides, covering us and prepared to jump in if something went wrong.

"Yes, I'm sure. Gods have some faith in me, big guy." Leo sniped back.

And of course, something went wrong.

"Ok, NOW!" Nico shouted.

As one, those as bait released the power that we had been harnessing for the past few hours. A great explosion of chaos shot into the air, combined and then erupted outwards in a shockwave. We were all knocked off our feet as dust spiralled around us, cries echoing throughout the clearing.

Silence.

"Did it work?" Harry asked. His glasses were askew and there was dust settling on his black hair. I was sure I probably looked the same. Everyone looked around, coughing the particles from their lungs and waiting, listening for any tell-tale signs of visitors.

"It should've." Annabeth replied. I couldn't see her but it sounded like she was somewhere off to my left, hidden as the others were. "However, I'm worried that that blast may have alerted much more than just Pompey." There was a silence as the others considered the implications of her statement.

"Despite that," Hermione started, "you'd think that _something_ would have happened by now."

"Yeah" Piped up Ron from beside her, "It's not every day that some lunatics release a shock that basically screams 'Hi we're here! Come and kill us!'."

"Ron, you are one of those lunatics." Harry muttered quietly to him.

"Oh yeah…"

"Guys shut up." Nico commanded. "Listen."

Everyone immediately fell silent. At first I didn't know what Nico wanted us to hear. Then, quite suddenly, I realised that what I had originally taken to be the thumping of my heart was the exact _opposite_ of that.

"Ohhhh shit." I groaned.

Hundreds of feet pounded towards us, a distant drumming that was growing rapidly louder and louder as each second past.

"Why again did we choose a clearing with exactly _NO_ visibility of our surroundings?" Piper shouted, panic evident in her voice.

"We do have visibility. Besides, it was the furthest away from any people. We didn't have many options!" Annabeth snapped back.

"Yeah you can see from the trees but _some_ of us are stuck on ground level!" Leo voiced sarcastically.

"Frank, Annabeth, what do you guys see?" Nico demanded, reaching to release his Stygian sword from across his back.

"Nothing yet, they're still too far away." Annabeth replied.

"I see them." Frank said suddenly, probably having changed his eyes to see further, "Oh guys this is not good."

"Is Pompey there?" Annabeth yelled.

"I…I think so, there's definitely _someone_ riding one of those things." Silence met Frank's words.

"Frank…" Hazel began, "What… _things_ …?"

"There's a lot of monsters but I have no idea what they are." Frank admitted, going silent for a moment before frantically screeching, "GUYS! GET OFF THE GROUND. NOW!"

Confusion followed as everyone on the ground quickly scrambled to the closest tree. I saw a golden hand reach down and pull Nico up a tree across the clearing and realised that Will must have been waiting in it. Harry and Ron helped boost Hermione into another tree while Leo helped Hazel up. I took a running start and vaulted at the closest tree, reaching for the lowest branches. I tried to get my footing but kept slipping on the smooth bark. All of a sudden, hands grabbed my arms and heaved me up and I fell forward into Annabeth.

"Hi, wise girl," I said with a smile.

"Seaweed brain. What would you do without me?" Before I could reply I heard Harry shout Draco's name in worry. The blond had been helping the other three into the tree and hadn't had the chance to pull himself up yet. Just as he jumped for Harry's arms, great, hideous beasts broke through the foliage and crashed into the clearing.

I nearly shouted for Draco when I saw him dangling above the ground, Harry and Ron's hands circling his biceps. The two boys heaved the third one up and out of sight. Just in time too, for as soon as Draco's foot disappeared into the leaves, a figure calmly sauntered into through the trees.

"Well, well, well. I haven't had a calling card as loud as that since the civil war between Marius and Sulla." The voice sent a shiver down my spine. It was as cold and cruel as an ice dagger yet held arrogance and contempt. "Come now, it's rude to not meet your guests. Surely your parents raised you all better than that." Annabeth's hand was clamped securely over my mouth and her grey eyes were swirling as she thought of a way to bring this back into our favour. Meanwhile, Pompey was still monologuing. "Oh, my apologies," He hissed a small laugh, like a blade being dipped in water, "I should not have assumed that everyone here had present parents." He smirked cruelly around the clearing, walking closer to the outside edge of the trap.

I glanced around, trying to see what we could do to push him just slightly further. Maybe then he would step on the wire and we would –

"Well what do we have here? Look friends, they've left us a little gift." I watched in horror as Pompey squatted down and ran the tip of his silver sword atop the wire of the trap, which I was _sure_ was invisible.

He tapped it gently and leant back as the floor of the clearing glimmered and revealed the vibrating wire. It suspended in mid-air for a millisecond before snapping closed with a sound like a gunshot and a blinding light. A small bronze ball was all that was left as I sat blinking my vision clear.

Pompey smirked wider and stalked forward. "Now that isn't very friendly is it?" He picked up the ball and examined it closely, his monstrous beasts pacing around him, noses upturned. "This is a pretty little trap, isn't it, son of Hephaestus?" He turned towards the tree in which Leo and Hazel were hidden and snapped his fingers.

The sound hadn't even finished echoing before one of the beasts darted out its head and snapped Leo out of the tree. With the beast's jaws clamped around his torso, Leo could only freeze and glare at Pompey, who was advancing with a horrid smile upon his face.

"I'm surprised. I'd expected your father's offspring to be…" He glanced up and down at Leo with disdain, "bigger." His laugh had a slight edge of mania to it as he stalked forward towards where Leo was held, tossing the useless trap into the air before catching it again in the same hand. "Very good work on this little thing. Here, you can have it back as a token of my appreciation."

He threw it at Leo who, due to his hands being trapped to his sides by the monster's jaws, helplessly winced as it hit him in the chest before bouncing off the ground and rolling towards his right.

"Not cool man. The least you can do is free my arms if you wanted to play catch." Leo shook his head slightly and flinched as the jaws tightened infinitesimally.

Pompey barked a harsh laugh and turned away from Leo, gazing up into the trees. "Looks like we have a comedian amongst us. Surely your friends would like to come down and see the show?" He waited as none of us moved, his glare becoming more and more annoying with each passing sweep of his head. "Well then, I guess I'll just have to convince you to come down another way."

He stomped towards Leo and wrapped a hand around his throat, squeezing tightly until Leo's face began to turn red. "If you don't come down now, your friend dies," Pompey growled, manic eyes sweeping the canopy.

I was about to jump down and slice him with Riptide when he suddenly swore and jumped back, rubbing his hand which had turned a bright red. "Well played, son of Hephaestus but a small burn isn't going to stop me." He turned towards the beast holding Leo and uttered a few words in a Latin. Leo groaned as the jaws around him tightened further. Pompey smiled again and declared. "You, on the other hand, won't last long under the crushing bite of my pets."

Five beasts circled Pompey. They had the body of a stag, a lion's neck and cloven hooves. What I had originally taken for teeth were actually ridges of sharp bone, designed for clamping down and slicing through meat. I felt ill as I watched Leo's pain-ridden face, the jaws closing slowly around him.

"They're Crocotta. They're said to devour anyone who gets in their path." Annabeth hissed in my ear. Great. Now I knew what they were called, it didn't exactly help the matter currently at hand.

Pompey continued to ramble, buying time as his 'pet' crushed Leo. "I found a small herd of these beautiful creatures a few decades ago. Some help from a friend of mine resulted in them growing much, _much_ larger than their relatives." He wasn't wrong. The monsters were approximately the size of a bull and their skin had a strange sheen to it. "Unfortunately, steel doesn't harm them, so your petty weapons won't affect them I'm afraid." Pompey's smug face turned in our direction, continuing his calm loop.

We were running out of time. Leo's breathing was steadily getting more laboured and blood had begun to run down his legs to drip onto the grass.

"We need to do something, now!" I whispered to Annabeth, hastily grabbing Riptide from my pocket and preparing to jump from the tree.

"Wait!" She hissed harshly, "Look."

She pointed towards the tree opposite us. Between the leaves I could just barely make out Nico crouching forward, eyes focused on Leo – no. Eyes focused on the shadows beneath the creature holding Leo. I saw a blond head lunge forward suddenly, breaking free of the foliage and landing on the outskirts of the clearing.

"Hey, dickhead!" Will shouted, "Caligula's asking for his attitude back!"

Pompey whirled around growling, him and his beasts' attention successfully drawn towards Will, away from where Nico has materialised next to Leo's prone form. Nico gripped Leo's arm tightly and vanished, the beast clamping down sharply at the absence of Leo's body.

"What is he doing?" Annabeth hissed sharply, fear contorting her face.

"We need to help him!" I was readying to jump out of the tree again when Nico rematerialized beside his boyfriend, the pair disappearing in a heartbeat.

Pompey snarled, whipping back around to discover his captive was freed. "Impetus! impetus, pro ratione voluntas!" Cried Pompey, a tan hand waving his creatures forward into the clearing.

Immediately spells began flying from all directions as the beasts leapt towards the trees, alternating between snapping their steel-crushing jaws and roaring loud enough to send the birds soaring from the trees. Annabeth and I were finally able to jump from the cover of our tree and quickly ran into the melee.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Frank shift into a wyvern and dive towards the onslaught of beasts surrounding Hazel and the wizards. Shouts rang out as the other teachers and students ran through the trees, effectively cutting off the beasts from stampeding outwards and surrounding us. I drew Riptide and let a loud war cry escape my throat as I plunged the sword into the side of one of the Crocottas, watching as it burst into golden dust. With another cry, I turned around and plunged deeper into the fight.

 ***Leo POV***

Warm hands pressed against my sides as a soft voice hummed above me. Slowly, so slowly, my broken ribs mended and my lungs cleared, allowing me to gasp loudly and suck in frantic breaths.

"Leo calm down!" Will grabbed my shoulders and turned me to face him, "Deep breath in…and out…good." I copied his exaggerated movements, my breathing slowing down and my vision clearing.

I felt Will move away from me and turn his attention on something next to me once he realised my breathing had calmed.

"Nico I swear to all the gods if you shadow travel again today I will kill you!" I heard Will snap as he laid his glowing hands over his boyfriend. I propped myself up into a sitting position and watched as Nico's face, paler than usual, slowly regained some colour and his eyelashes begin fluttering.

"Ugh, that was shit." Muttered the small Italian boy, coughing roughly as Will dived forward and wrapped his arms around the other boy.

I awkwardly looked away from the tender moment and scanned our surroundings. Nico had moved us to a small clearing covered in shadows a short distance away from the others. I could hear the distinct sounds of battle and tried to scramble up…only to fall back with a cry as my newly healed ribs voiced their disagreement.

"FUCK!"

"Leo shut up."

"Well, it fucking hurts death boy so excuse me for verbally stating that!"

"Both of you stop it!" Will shouted. "We need to help the others. What do we do now that the trap is useless?"

Nico smirked slightly, "Yeah good job with that by that way."

"Oi!" I jumped up again as Will held Nico back.

"Nico! Apologise!" Will commanded, holding his boyfriend tightly to his chest.

"For what? Stating the obvious?"

"No for being a dickhead!"

I snorted at their lover's quarrel and snorted again as Nico reluctantly apologised.

While the pair continued to bicker quietly, I searched through my toolbelt until I pulled out the secondary bronze sphere. "Oi! If you lovebirds are quite finished…?" Blue and black eyes snapped up to meet mine, the former guiltily and the latter incredulously. "I thought he wouldn't be easily fooled so I made another trap. The problem is that you have to get close enough to activate it so that it only sucks Pompey in and then get the hell out of there."

Silence met my words as the two boys looked between each other.

"No." Will ground out.

" _Yes_. It's the obvious choice." Nico replied, twisting in Will's arms which were still clasped around the smaller boy's chest. It was surprising to discover that when they were that close together, Will was only taller by about an inch or two, tall enough however to make Nico look up to talk to him.

"You are not shadow travelling next to the bastard and then doing it _again_ to get away!" Will scanned his boyfriend's face urgently. "You are already worn out, doing any more shadow travelling will most likely kill you. So, no – I'll tie myself to you if I have to!" He cut over Nico's protests, leaving no room for argument.

"Guys, as much as I appreciate the effort, neither of you are going near him." I piped up, fidgeting as they both turned towards me again. "You can't activate it. Only I can. You'll need to clear me a path so that he's the only one in the trap's range – a good three feet I think. We'll only have a few seconds."

Will released Nico and stalked closer to me, grabbing my chin and tilting my head left and right, peering into my eyes questioningly.

"What are you doing?" I barked, jumping out of the blonde's grasp.

"Checking to see if that beast burst your brain because of that STUPID suggestion!" He took a deep breath. "There is no way we are letting you anywhere near Pompey. Besides," he continued, waving off my protests, "how will you even get out of the range? A few seconds isn't long enough to safely get away on your own."

I beamed broadly at Will, pulling out a thick rope from my toolbelt at the same time. "That's why you'll pull me back! I'll tie this around me and as soon as I activate it, you and Nico will pull this as hard as you can and I'll jump back. That way, all the momentum will result in me being pulled out of range and Pompey to be stuck for good." I smiled proudly at their dumbstruck faces.

Nico sighed. "That's not going to work."

"Sure it will! Don't be a Debbie downer Nico! And wipe that frown off your face, you'll get premature wrinkles." With that, I began heading in the direction of the fighting, happily bouncing towards my probable (hopefully not) entrapment which a psychopath.

The destruction from the fight was much worse than I originally imagined. Golden dust covered the entirety of the clearing, swirling in great clumps in the breeze. Bodies lay strewn across the ground, unconscious or worse, I couldn't tell.

Pompey stood in the middle of it, fiercely defending himself against Percy, Annabeth, Ron and Hermione. I saw McGonagall fending off two beasts by herself, waving her wand frantically. Draco's blond hair was gleaming across the clearing and my heart wrenched as I spotted a head of dark hair at his feet. He was standing his ground, ferociously protecting Harry as the other boy lay unconscious behind him. I couldn't see Frank or Hazel but I could hear the distinct screeches of a wyvern above us. Piper's dirt-covered face suddenly appeared before me and I stumbled as she wrapped her arms around me tightly.

"Oh thank the gods! I thought you were going to die!" She huffed shallowly into my shoulder and I returned her embrace.

"I'm alright Pipes. But we need to get the others away from Pompey." I brandished the second trap and continued, "I need to get close enough to activate it but the others can't be near me or else they'll get trapped as well." She looked pained for a moment before she nodded.

I quickly turned to Will and Nico and wrapped one half of the rope around my waist. After securing it tightly, I handed the other half to Nico. "Ok let's do this, I guess."

Both boys nodded and we turned towards Piper. I nodded once and then broke into a run.

"RETREAT! EVERYONE RETREAT!" Piper's voice rang out across the clearing, her charmspeak causing everyone to suddenly turn around and run back to the tree line. I ran past Percy and Ron who shook their head in confusion at their sudden choice to retreat. Percy's eyes widened as I pass them and tried to turn around to follow me. Nico grabbed his arm before he could run off again and quickly whispered in his ear.

I ignored everything else around me and continued racing towards Pompey, who had remained where he was but was looking around in confusion and anger at his retreating forces. Piper's charmspeak was so strong that even the beasts were retreating.

Pompey wrenched his head up as I appeared in front of him, eyes widening as I slammed a hand onto the bronze sphere and threw it towards him. A felt a sharp tug at my waist and jumped backwards with as much force as I could gather.

Pompey didn't even get an opportunity to utter a curse before the trap expanded and with a great vacuum of air, sucked him in before snapping shut and dropping to the dusty floor.

I tumbled to the floor and lay there groaning, the impacts of nearly being bitten in half and then yanked away from a suctioning god trap finally catching up with my body. Nico and Will rushed forward, the latter dropping down beside me to check I was ok and the former racing to pick up the bronze trap.

"Fuck you, Pompey!" Nico cried happily.

"Language Mr Di Angelo," McGonagall said curtly from across the clearing. She was crouching over Harry and waving her wand in complicated motions, Draco watching worriedly on the side.

I looked up as Frank and Hazel appeared, the former was indeed in the form of a wyvern. Frank quickly transformed but into his awkward self and wrapped a tired arm around Hazel's small shoulders. Her golden eyes rested on me as she said loudly, "All the beasts disappeared when Pompey was captured. We think he summoned them and once his power was cut off, they went back to wherever they came from."

"Thank the gods for that." I groaned, accepting Piper's hand and heaving myself upright.

Annabeth did a quick headcount. "Is everyone ok?" Murmurs of confirmation echoed across the now monster-free clearing.

I had just sighed a breath of relief when suddenly Annabeth stalked over and punched me in the arm.

"Ouch! What – "

"What on earth were you thinking?! Running towards Pompey with another trap – which I expect answers about later – all by yourself with only a ROPE to stop you from being sucked in and trapped as well! I cannot believe you would do something so stupid!" She whirled towards Nico and Will, both of whom shrank back slightly under her fiery glare. "And you two! Letting him do that without asking anyone else to help! What would have happened if he got sucked in? The force would have pulled the two of you in as well! You may be strong but you aren't exactly the heaviest people here. Next time you even _think_ about doing something so ridiculously stupid again, be sure to grab a few more people or I swear to the gods by the time I am done with you you'll be wishing you were born with a few more working brain cells!" She huffed loudly and slumped, stepping forward quickly to wrap me in a tight hug. "I'm so glad everyone's ok."

Percy smiled brightly at his girlfriend as I stared at her in disbelief. Nico and Will's faces were mixtures of humour, fear and guilt.

"Well. Good job everyone, that was much more successful than I initially believed it would be. However, we need to leave. Mr Potter is in desperate need of the Hospital Wing and I am afraid that the longer we wait, the more likely it is that young Mr Malfoy will faint from worry." The corner of Professor McGonagall's mouth twitched upwards slightly as she regarded us and the white-haired boy.

The rest of the group beamed at each other as we picked up dropped weapons and began the walk back towards Hogwarts, slinging arms around shoulders and laughing freely for what felt like the first time in forever.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter Twenty-Two – The Epilogue**

 ***Harry POV***

I groaned as I woke up, slowly blinking away the haze of sleep. Moonlight streamed in through the window behind the bed I lay in. I continued to blink up at the white ceiling which I had become quite familiar with in the past eight years. _Hospital Wing – what a surprise_.

A soft snore from beside me caught my attention and I turned my head to examine the boy sleeping in the wooden chair next to my bed. Draco's white-blond hair looked silver in the soft light from the moon as it splayed messily across his forehead. My heart clenched slightly as I took in his dishevelled appearance. It was so unusual to see the usually perfectly poised boy look slightly unkempt. The result was a soft image, even the harsh lines of his handsome face were softened in sleep.

I smiled slightly and continued to watch my boyfriend sleep peacefully. Once it got to the point where it would seem slightly creepy to continue staring, I attempted to turn back over and get back to sleep. Of course, the minute I tried to move my body, a sharp bolt of pain shot through it, resulting in a pained grunt to escape my mouth.

Immediately, Draco's eyes shot open, relief shining in his silver irises. "Harry. Thank Merlin, you're awake." His initial relief was replaced by concern. "How do you feel? Wait a moment, I need to go fetch Madame Pomfrey." Without another word he disappeared, his footsteps returning shortly accompanied by the click of heels.

Madame Pomfrey's blurred face appeared above mine as she quickly flicked her wand over my body. "Where does it hurt, Mr Potter?"

"Pretty much everywhere ma'am." I replied stiffly. Draco's concerned face hovered at the edge of my vision before quickly disappearing. I felt the familiar cold metal of my glasses get gently placed on my face and everything sharpened into focus.

Madame Pomfrey muttered a few spells and then shoved a number of potions consecutively down my throat. Choking slightly, I managed to swallow them. Immediately, the pain receded and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Rest now Mr Potter." She nodded to herself and then glanced towards Draco. "I know I cannot expect you to stay another day, so ensure you get some sleep and you may leave for breakfast in a few hours." With an amused look between the two of us, she left.

"How are you feeling Harry?" I turned my attention back to Draco and smiled slightly.

"Better now. What happened?" I asked, pulling myself up slightly to see him better.

He leant closer and held my hand, gently stroking his thumb over it as he explained what happened after I fell unconscious.

"It was horrible Harry. I saw you fall but I couldn't do anything to help you. I'm glad the others managed to trap Pompey when they did. I wasn't sure how much longer I could fight." Draco's face was strained by the time he finished speaking. I reached up and gently pulled his face towards mine, placing a soft kiss on his lips.

"I'm glad you were there to look after your accident-prone boyfriend," I said with a bright smile.

Draco's smile responded just as brightly.

"You should get some sleep. Breakfast is in a few hours and I don't know how much longer I can sit in that pitiful chair. Two days is way too long for my perfect posture to be compromised." Draco huffed and sat back, crossing his arms petulantly across his chest.

I grinned and scooted over, patting the space next to me in invitation. Draco smirked and gracefully clambered onto the bed, settling himself comfortably at my side.

I stroked a hand slowly through his silky hair and let his breathing calm me to sleep again.

We awoke a few hours later, sunlight now streaming across us. I smiled down at Draco to find him already watching me, a slight smirk on his face.

"Morning," I said, still smiling.

"Morning." He replied with a smirk. We stayed like that for a little while until my stomach let out an obscene grumble.

Draco laughed and slid off the bed, running a hand through his sleep-mussed hair and straightening his clothes. "I think we're in time for breakfast. Come on." He extended his hand with a soft smile and I eagerly grabbed it.

Once I was changed into a new set of clothes, we exited the Hospital Wing and headed towards the Great Hall. I had one of my arms securely around Draco's shoulder, one of his wrapped behind my waist, supporting me as we hobbled along the stone corridors, pushing through the heavy double doors.

"HARRY!" Hermione's piercing shriek reached me a few moments before the girl herself launched at me, somehow managing to tackle me in a tight embrace despite Draco's arm around my waist.

"Thank Merlin you're alright! Madame Pomfrey wouldn't let us in to see you, she said you needed to rest. How do you feel? Does anything hurt? Did you get enough rest?" Hermione managed to say all this in one breath, releasing me from her python-like grip and stepping back to get a proper look at me.

"Hermione, let the poor damsel breath," Draco commented, leading us steadily towards the rest of our friends at the Gryffindor table. I took a moment to appreciate how much Draco must have cared about me to willingly sit at our table before I was distracted by the excited shouts of our friends.

"How are you feeling, mate?"

"Dude you scared us for a minute there."

"Thank the gods you're ok."

"Guys chill, you're disrupting my bacon." Everyone laughed at Leo's comment and settled back into their own seats as Draco and I sat down in our spaces, ignoring the whispers from the other tables.

I took a moment to survey our group. Everyone looked relaxed and, dare I say it, happy. Amusingly, Leo was wearing the sphere containing Pompey on a chain around his neck. Nico and Will were bickering about the number of vegetables Nico needed to eat while Hazel and Piper watched on in amusement. Frank and Percy were joking around with Annabeth and Ron had replaced his arm around Hermione's shoulder, the brunette leaning back comfortably against her boyfriend.

Draco has released my waist and instead now gripped my hand tightly on the table, using his free hand to pile a selection of food onto both our plates.

"So what happens now? Do you guys need to go back to America?" Ron asked carefully, glancing around at all the demigods.

Annabeth and Percy shared a brief look before the blonde spoke. "I'm not sure. We can't exactly get on a plane as Zeus would likely shoot Percy and Nico out of the sky. Long story," she said in reply to our confused faces. "The best thing we could do would be to try to contact our camp and then figure out a way to transport back."

A heavy silence settled upon us. The demigods obviously didn't want to leave and we didn't want them to go. Before we could discuss it any further; however, a loud thunderclap broke throughout the room. Students screamed in shock and fear, some raising wands and looking around in fright.

My attention trained upon the three figures standing on the raised platform in front of the staff table. "Uh, guys…" Heads turned towards where I raised my finger and pointed. I had to hold back a laugh at the look on McGonagall's face at the appearance of these unexpected guests.

"Dad?" Leo called suddenly. Shock rippled across the room as all heads swivelled towards us. Leo stood up, alongside the rest of the demigods.

"Son. Well done on finishing that trap, it was good work." Leo looked stunned at the gruff words from the strangely misshapen man. Piper grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the three people – no not people… _gods_. The three _gods_. The rest of the demigods followed quickly.

"Percy! How's your mother? Hello Annabeth, I hope you're well?" The tallest of the three stepped forward and embraced Percy and Annabeth. He had Percy's dark hair and piercing sea-green eyes but a bulkier build than his son.

"That must be Poseidon and Hephaestus," Hermione muttered from across the table, indicating the man talking to Percy and the misshapen man, respectively. "I think the other one is Zeus."

I glanced at Draco in shock and observed the middle man closer. He did not look pleased by his brother's actions; glaring profusely at Poseidon and Percy.

"I think that is enough brother," Zeus said, his voice rolling across the hall like a thunderstorm. He turned towards Professor McGonagall and inclined his head slightly. "Apologises Minerva, for the interruption. We will be collecting the demigods and the prisoner and leaving promptly."

"Wait, you're leaving already?" I shouted, barely even registering that I probably should not have questioned a god.

All eyes turned towards me and I felt, more than saw, Draco drop his head to the table in exasperation and groan.

Zeus looked at me as if I were a strange specimen he had found attached to his shoe. "Yes…" He spoke slowly as if too surprised and confused to really articulate. "I believe I just said that…Who are you, boy?"

"Uh, Harry Potter sir," I answered carefully.

"Hmm…that explains it," Zeus muttered before turning away.

Draco burst into laughter beside me and quickly tried to smother it as students looked over at him in shock.

"I will allow the demigods to say goodbye to the other children before we leave." Zeus continued as if uninterrupted and promptly glared at the demigods surrounding him, clearly expressing that they had better be quick or they wouldn't like what would happen.

The eight demigods hurried down to us and soon everyone was lost in a whirlwind of embraces and tearful goodbyes.

"You all need to somehow contact us," Hermione stated, tears gleaming in her eyes. "Send us a letter here with a return address and we can keep in contact."

Annabeth nodded quickly. "Also use these." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a handful of large gold coins. "They're called drachmas. We'll contact you at some point and tell you how to use them to instantly message us."

We all beamed and wrapped each other in more hugs. It felt surreal. The demigods had only been there for a few months but it felt as if we had known each other for the majority of our lives.

I glanced over and saw Nico and Will muttering something to Draco, who blushed bright pink, the shade turning even darker when I caught his eye. He shook his head at my questioning glance and I quickly turned to embrace Percy.

"Stay safe mate. It was really good to get the chance to know you." I said, feeling sad yet also happy.

"You too man. Gods, who would have thought I would actually miss a school." Percy's comment gained a round of tearful laughter.

Once everyone had calmed down we stood staring at each other. An obnoxious cough sounded from the teacher's table and Annabeth glanced back.

"I guess we need to go now. It was so good to have the opportunity to meet you all. We're going to miss you!" Her comment was confirmed by everyone else, Nico even offered less sarcastic affirmation.

"We'll miss you guys too," Hermione said, speaking for all of us.

I wrapped my arm around Draco's waist as the four of us stood watching the demigods march back towards the gods.

"What did Nico and Will say to you?" I whispered into his ear.

He smirked at me, a slight blush painting his cheekbones. "They just gave me some advice for the future."

I smiled and kissed him softly before turning back towards the group at the front of the hall.

Silence filled the hall as the demigods looked back at us, smiles covering their faces despite the tear tracks running down some of their cheeks. Zeus gathered them all together, thanked McGonagall once more and in a great clap of thunder, they disappeared.

"What happens now?" Ron repeated his earlier question, still gazing at the place where the demigods had stood.

I looked around at my friends and my boyfriend, holding Draco's gaze as I smiled broadly. "We look towards the future."

Draco smiled back brightly and kissed me, tightly wrapping his arms around my waist.

"OK sounds good you know. But breakfast first, I'm starving." Ron's distant comment sparked laughter from all of us.

I dared to say it – we were happy.

* * *

 **A/N - And that's it! Thank you to everyone who stuck by this admittedly amateur quality work, even though it took me months to upload even one chapter. I enjoyed this and hopefully, you did too!**


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